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The Ethical TEACHi:N^a 

- OF Jesus 



The Ethical Teaching 

OE Jesus 



BY 

CHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS, D.D., D.Litt. 

Professor of Theological Encyclopaedia and Symbolics 
The Union Theological Seminary , Neiv York 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1904 



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two Oooies Rwmived 
SEP 9 1904 

' C©PY B* 



COPYKIGHT 1904 

By CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



Published September, 1904 



PRESS OF 

The New Era Printing Company 
Lancaster, Pj^ 



TO 



MORRIS K. JESUP, LL.D. 



THIS BOOK 



IS DEDICATED 



IN ADMIRATION AND LOVE 



PREFACE. 



This book originated from a course of lectures, 
which were prepared for the students of the Union 
Theological Seminary, in the fulfilment of my duty 
as Professor of Biblical Theology. The field of Bib- 
lical Theology may be divided into three divisions. 
Biblical Religion, Biblical Faith, and Biblical Ethics 
(see General Introduction to the Study of Holy 
Scripture pp. 604 sq). After the completion of the 
courses on Biblical Eeligion and Biblical Faith I 
undertook an inductive study of Biblical Ethics. 
This I found to be a comparatively unexplored field ; 
for most scholars have devoted their attention to the 
central theme, the Biblical Faith: many to the Re- 
ligion of the Old Testament; but few to the Ethics, 
either of the Old Testament, or the New Testament ; 
and these few have for the most part considered the 
subject on the basis of selected passages for homi- 
letical or practical purposes from the point of view 
of the ethical Philosophy, which they held. My atten- 
tion was first given to the ethics of the Old Testa- 
ment, after which I made a complete inductive study 
of the Ethics of Jesus. This study was revised sev- 
eral times as the lectures were repeated to different 
classes. 

Two additional revisions have been made since, in 

vii 



viii PREFACE. 

the preparation of this volume ; the first based on the 
separation of the material of each of the four Gospels 
by itself; the second on the basis of my more recent 
views as to the development of the life and teaching 
of Jesus as set forth in the volume entitled: New 
Light on the Life of Jesus, 

The greater portion of the Ethical Teaching of 
Jesus was given by him in the form of Hebrew Wis- 
dom, in accordance with the method of the rabbis and 
wise men of his people. This method was poetic in 
form, with measured lines and occasionally strophical 
organization. The Gospels which recorded this 
Teaching were, as I think, originally written in the 
Hebrew language. When these were translated into 
Greek and incorporated in the canonical Gospels, the 
Hebrew form was to some extent obscured by con- 
densation, by explanatory additions, and by the 
neglect of the parallelisms of thought and statement. 
But one familiar with the form and methods of 
Hebrew Wisdom, does not find it difficult to discern 
the original form, in all essential particulars, under- 
lying the several versions in the Gospels. This vol- 
ume undertakes to give these sayings of Jesus in 
their original forms. These doubtless vary in some 
respects from Jesus' exact sayings, but not in any 
very important degree. It has been impracticable 
in most cases to give the evidence for these originals 
without making the volume too technical, and so de- 
feating the purpose I have in view, to set forth plainly 
the ethical Teaching of Jesus. I have however given 



PREFACE. IX 

the evidence in a sufficient number of cases to exhibit 
the processes by which I arrived at the results. 

This inductive study of the ethical Teaching of 
Jesus brought a great surprise to me. Ethical opin- 
ions which I had held for the greater portion of my 
life vanished when I saw clearly what Jesus himself 
taught. His teaching as to Holy Love came upon me 
like a new revelation from God. It gave for the first 
time, unity to his teachings, and cleared up the diffi- 
culties, apparently irreconcilable before, which en- 
veloped his sayings in the Sermon on the Mount. 
Furthermore Jesus' teaching as to the liberty of 
Love enables us to reconcile Jesus with his most able 
and brilliant disciple St. Paul, whose principle of the 
liberty of Faith has been made so much of in modem 
times ; but whose principle of the liberty of Love has 
been so commonly overlooked. (See I Cor. XIII.) 
It also enables us to reconcile the principle and prac- 
tice of Holy Love in the primitive Church, with the 
teachings of Jesus and his apostles. (See article on 
Sanctification by Love, the Churchman, May, 1903; 
and article on Catholic, the name and the thing, The 
American Journal of Theology, July, 1903.) 

Jesus' teaching as to holy Love, I did not under- 
stand until a few years ago ; and not to the full extent 
that is set forth in this book, until I made my final re- 
vision of the subject. I cannot therefore anticipate 
that these teachings will at once be accepted by all 
my readers. Many of them doubtless have prej- 
udices to overcome due to their previous ethical 



X PREFACE, 

training and long-cherished opinions. However the 
interpretations of the Ethics of Jesus, as given in 
this book, are not novel. They are in fact in all 
essential particulars, in harmony with the interpre- 
tations of the Fathers of the Christian Church, and 
with the general opinion of the Christian World for 
the greater part of its history. I am fully convinced 
that Jesus' principle of voluntary love is the great 
transforming principle of Christianity, the material 
principle of sanctification, and the principle specially 
adapted to this modern ethical period of the world. 
"When it once lays hold of Christian people, as it 
surely will ere long, the Christian Church will enter 
into a new and more fruitful age. 



CONTENTS. 

Page. 

I. The Sources of the Teaching of Jesus. . . 1 
II. The Form and Method of the Teaching 

of Jesus 14 

III. The Will of the Father 34 

IV. The Word of Jesus 47 

V. The Kingdom of God 59 

VI. Repentance and Faith 68 

VII. The Two Ways 82 

VIII. Godlike Love 97 

IX. Christlike Love 114^ 

X. Casuistry 127 

XL The Law 143 

XII. Righteousness 158 

XIII. Pharisaism 167 

XIV. Sin and Judgment 188*^ 

XV. Service and Reward 207 

XVI. Counsels of Perfection 224 

XVII. Counting the Cost 242 

XVIII. The Church and Society 259 

Index 281 



THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

I. 

The Soukces of the Teaching of Jesus. 

The Teaching of Jesus is given chiefly in the four 
Gospels. But we may also find specimens in the 
Book of Acts, the Epistles,^ and early Christian writ- 
ings f and also in the recently discovered fragments 
of the Logia of Jesus. ^ 

The four Gospels give the Teaching of Jesus in 
varied proportions and in varied forms. They are 
not independent sources, and, in their present form, 
none of them are primary. They are all secondary 
to earlier gospels which underlie them and which they 
used as sources. 

1. The Gospel of Mark is nearest to its original. 
It was probably written in the Hebrew language for 
Jewish Christians. It was certainly written under 
the influence of St. Peter, as early Christian tradition 
coming from the second Christian century reports. 
It was subsequently translated into Greek for the use 
of the Eoman Christians in general; its Hebraisms 

1 Acts XX. 35; 1 Cor. vii. 10-11. 

2E,escli, Aussercanonische Paralleltexte zu den Evangelien, 1893- 
1896. 

^Sayings of Our Lord, discovered and edited by R. P. Grenfell and 
A. S. Hunt, 1897. 

1 1 



2 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

and Aramaisms were explained for their benefit ; and 
sundry additions were made from other sources of in- 
formation. It is probable that the Gospel was a first 
volume, and that it was continued in a second volume 
giving the narrative of the Jerusalem Church, which 
is the chief source of the early chapters of the Book 
of Acts ; and that the story of the Resurrection was 
given in the second narrative.^ Later this story 
was condensed and added to the text of the Gospel by 
another hand to give it a better ending when separ- 
ated from its second part. 

The Gospel of Mark is one of the sources of the 
Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Whether it was used 
by the author of the Gospel of John is disputed, 
though most critics hold that opinion. The Teaching 
given in this Gospel is limited in amount. It aimed 
to give chiefly facts and events in the ministry of 
Jesus that would show that he was the Son of God. 

2. The Gospel of Matthew was not written by the 
apostle Matthew; but it used two earlier gospels, 
whose material it arranged chiefly in topical order. 
It depends on the Gospel of Mark for the facts and 
events of the ministry of Jesus. But it also uses a 
gospel, written by St. Matthew the apostle, under 
the title of Logia, in the Hebrew language, according 
to the testimony of Papias of the early second cen- 
tury.2 The material derived from this Logia of St. 



1 'New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 112 sq. 

2 EuseLins' Church Bistory, translated and edited by A. C. Mc- 
Giffert, 1890, pp. 170-173. 



SOURCES OF TEACHING OF JESUS. 3 

Matthew constitutes its most characteristic feature. 
It was not unnatural therefore that the Gospel of 
Matthew should take the name and authority of its 
chief source, especially after that source had been 
long lost. It is in dispute among scholars whether 
the original Logia of St. Matthew contained inci- 
dents as well as teaching, and also as to the extent 
of the teaching. The view that I have long advo- 
cated^ and still maintain is that the Logia of St. 
Matthew contained incidents, only to a very limited 
extent, as introductory to sayings of Jesus. The 
Logia consisted essentially of the Teaching of Jesus. 
But even this was limited to that teaching which was 
in the form of Hebrew Wisdom, such as that which 
this Gospel gives in three groups— (a) The Sermon 
on the Mount, (b) the Commission of the Twelve, (c) 
the Woes upon the Pharisees. It did not contain 
the parables, with the exception of a few in the form 
of Hebrew Wisdom, which may be called germs of 
parables, in the gnomic form. It did not contain the 
eschatological discourse. It did not contain con- 
versations with the disciples or the Pharisees, ex- 
cept so far as these assumed the forms of Hebrew 
Wisdom. Some of this material derived from the 
Logia is also found in the Gospel of Mark, and often 
in this case it appears twice in Matthew and Luke, 
once in correspondence with Mark and again as de- 
rived from the Logia. 

iSee New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 128 sq. 



4 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

The question therefore arises whether the Gospel 
of Mark used the Logia,^ or whether it derived these 
sayings of Jesus from the teaching of St. Peter. The 
former is favoured,— (1) by the fact that these say- 
ings in Mark are attached to incidents as in Luke, 
and (2) they are often introduced by the formula— 
Jesus said. The latter of these features appears in 
the recently discovered collection of the logia of 
Jesus. Therefore it would seem that the Gospel of 
Mark cites the Logia more closely than the other Gos- 
pels. The difficulty with this supposition is, that it 
is hard to explain why this Gospel uses so few of 
these sayings of the Logia^ if the author had them 
all in written form before him. It is also difficult 
to explain the place of some of them. For it may be 
shown that they are not always given in their original 
place, but sometimes in a topical place. On the 
whole, therefore, it is most probable that the original 
Mark did not use the Logia of St. Matthew. The 
most of the logia given by it were appended for 
topical reasons to the Greek translation. The few 
remaining ones are closely attached to narratives, 
and came from the memory of St. Peter. 

The Gospel of Matthew also used for its story of 
the infancy of Jesus a poetic Hebrew source. The 
parables were probably derived from an oral source 
and grouped : (a) The parables of the kingdom at the 
seaside, (&) the parables of the last journey to Jeru- 



1 The Use of the Logia of Matthew in the Gospel of Mark in 
Journal of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, 1904. 



S0UB0E8 OF TEACHING OF JESUS. 5 

salem, (c) the parables of the kingdom, attached to 
the conflict with the Pharisees in Passion week; (4) 
the parables attached to the eschatological discourse. 
The story of the Resurrection was probably derived 
from the Jerusalem source of Acts.^ The Logia of 
St. Matthew was written in the Hebrew language 
and gave the Wisdom of Jesus for the use of Jewish 
Christians of Palestine and the Eastern Dispersion. 
It was written some time before the destruction of 
Jerusalem, either in Jerusalem, Galilee, or Perea. 
In the present Gospel of Matthew all its sources were 
translated from Hebrew into Greek for a wider use 
especially in Syria. 

3. The Gospel of Luke, as its author tells us, was 
composed by the use of several sources, oral as well 
as written.^ St. Luke the beloved physician,^ the 
disciple of St. Paul, was undoubtedly the author of 
the Gospel and probably also of the Book of Acts. 
His chief source for both was Mark's Gospel and 
story of the Church of Jerusalem. But he also uses 
the Logia of the apostle Matthew. He uses the 
Logia however differently from its use in the Gospel 
of Matthew. He gives the sayings of Jesus, which 
Matthew groups topically, chiefly in connection with 
incidents, a large proportion of which latter are 
unknown to Matthew and Mark. Luke gives the ma- 
terial derived from Mark, and attaches some of the 



'^New Light on the Life of Jesus, p. 114. 

2 Lk. i. 1-4. 

3 Col. iv. 14. 



6 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

logia of Matthew to that material. Then he gives 
a number of incidents from another source to which 
he attaches many other of the logia. 

These logia, as we know, were derived from the 
Logia of the apostle Matthew, and it is probable that 
Luke adheres closer to the original in his arrange- 
ment than our Gospel of Matthew does. The same 
must be said of several of the parables, which Luke 
gives here, that Matthew attaches to groups. These 
parables, while substantially the same as those of 
Matthew, are yet so different in form and language 
that one cannot think of a written source. This sec- 
tion of Luke also contains a large number of parables 
of a different type altogether from those given in 
Mark and Matthew. It is possible that these were 
derived from a written source, but not probable. If 
there was a written source for the Perean ministry 
of this section of Luke, it is difficult to explain the 
few incidents and the large amount of teaching. It 
seems most probable that, in this section, Luke fol- 
lowed, in the main, the Logia of Matthew, in his 
arrangement of the material, and gave the other ma- 
terial derived from oral testimony as best he could, 
in connection with these logia. It is possible that he 
derived this information from Thomas or Matthew, 
or both, who were probably with Jesus during the 
Perean ministry.^ 

The gospel of the infancy of Jesus was derived 
from two Hebrew poetical sources. The story of 

1 ISlew Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 7G sq. 



SOURCES OF TEACHING OF JESUS. 7 

Luke is chiefly composed of prose seams to these 
poetic extracts.^ It is altogether probable that Luke 
made a journey from Rome to Palestine to prepare 
for his Gospel and the Book of Acts, and it may be 
that there was a Syrian as well as a Eoman edition, 
with the variants which appear in the Oriental and 
Western texts.^ It is quite certain that St. Luke did 
not use the present Gospel of Matthew, and it is 
probable that some of the material of the present 
Gospel of Mark was unknown to him. He seems to 
have used the Greek Mark of the second hand, but not 
the final Mark. These three Gospels are named the 
Synoptic Gospels over against the Fourth Gospel 
which is of a different character. 

The Gospel of Mark, having been used by the two 
others, its presentation of the Teaching of Jesus is 
of primary importance. The others give it with cer- 
tain modifications which are either condensations or 
explanatory amplifications. 

The Logia of St. Matthew underlies the three Gos- 
pels, therefore the originals of the words of Jesus 
can be determined only by the use of the principles 
of Textual Criticism to determine the parent of two, 
three, or more variant readings. So far as the 
Teaching of Jesus is peculiar to one of these Gospels 
we must accept that teaching as it is given, except so 
far as we may be guided by the form and method of 
Jesus, and the method of use of the original in other 



1 'New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 159 ^ 
* Blass, Philology of the Gospels, 1898, pp. 



96 



8 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

passages of that Gospel, to find the original under- 
lying that use. 

4. The Fourth Gospel bears the name of John and 
it is attached traditionally to the apostle John, al- 
though the name of a presbyter John is mixed with 
that of the apostle in early Christian tradition, and 
some moderns attribute to him the Fourth Gospel. 
The Fourth Gospel has little to say of the Galilean 
ministry— the theme of Mark, and of the Gospel of 
Matthew which depends upon it. It agrees with 
Luke in recognizing a Perean ministry, although it 
abstains from giving material relating to it. The 
ministry of Jesus, according to the Fourth Gospel, 
was chiefly in Jerusalem. The author abstains from 
giving the ministry in Galilee and Perea for certain 
reasons. What were these reasons'? Was it because 
he knew of the synoptic Gospels and did not care to 
narrate what they had given so well? Was the Fourth 
Gospel supplementary as ancient tradition has it? 
Was it because the author had a special interest in 
the Jerusalem ministry and a special reason there- 
fore to tell of it, and did he regard the other ministry 
as comparatively unimportant? 

There are few events common to the Fourth Gos- 
pel and the Synoptists except the introductory minis- 
try of the Baptist, the Healing of the nobleman's son 
in Galilee, the Feeding of the multitudes, and the 
story of the Passion; and in all these there is addi- 
tional material to that given in the Synoptists. May 
we trace the hand of a supplementer here also ? The 



SOUECES OF TEACHING OF JESUS. 9 

events of the ministry prior to the Passion are few; 
the chief material is teaching. 

When we examine these incidents, which are the 
basis of the teaching, we do not find snch a dispro- 
portionate presentation of the ministry in Jerusalem 
as first appears. If one starts with the presupposi- 
tion, based upon St. Mark's Gospel, that the Galilean 
ministry was the principal ministry of Jesus, then 
the Gospel of John gives disproportionate space to 
the ministry in Jerusalem. But if on the other hand 
we take the statements of the four Gospels as essen- 
tially historical ; that there were ministries in Galilee, 
Perea, Jerusalem and Samaria,— then in fact it is 
just the Gospel of John which is most comprehensive 
in its statements, for it alone gives important events 
and teaching in all these parts of the Holy Land. 
And it is a priori most probable that the most im- 
portant events and teaching would be in Jerusalem, 
leading on by inevitable development to the crisis in 
Jerusalem. The Gospel of John gives an earlier 
ministry in Galilee than the Synoptists, mentions the 
chief miracle of the second ministry in Galilee, and 
the crisis in Galilee connected with the Feeding of 
the Multitudes and Jesus ' recognition as Messiah by 
St. Peter and the Twelve. Four miracles are men- 
tioned in Galilee to three in Jerusalem. Indeed the 
proportions of John are more comprehensive than 
those of any of the Synoptists, even Luke. When 
now we examine the teaching of the Fourth Gospel, 
it is verv different in form and context. The Wis- 



10 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESU8. 

dom of Jesus, as derived from the Logia, is only 
given in a few specimens. There are no real para- 
bles bnt instead of them a few beautiful allegories. 
The chief feature of the instruction that is common 
to the Synoptists, is that given especially by Mark- 
conversations with the disciples and the Pharisees, 
and even these are transformed. 

This omission of the wisdom of Jesus and his 
parables must have had a reason. This reason could 
hardly have been that of a supplementer, else he 
would have given other specimens of Jesus' wisdom 
and parables than those given by the Synoptists. But 
in fact he does not,— he omits this kind of teaching 
and limits himself to another kind. This was evi- 
dently intentional,— it was to concentrate the atten- 
tion upon that kind of teaching which revealed most 
clearly the Messiahship and divine Sonship of Jesus. 
It was not the teaching of the people, but the higher 
teaching of his chosen disciples, and the challenge of 
the teachers of Israel to accept him as the Messiah. 
This kind of teaching, in the very nature of the case, 
could not come in the Galilean ministry except at its 
close. It must appear rather in the Jerusalem min- 
istry. And it was for this didactic purpose that the 
story of the Jerusalem ministry was so much more 
important to this evangelist than the others. If, as 
we have elsewhere suggested, St. John and St. 
James,^ alone of the Twelve, accompanied Jesus dur- 
ing the greater part of this Jerusalem ministry, and 



New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 42 sq. 



SOURCES OF TEACHING OF JESUS. H 

if Jerusalem was the region of their missionary work- 
ing,— then there was a special reason also for their 
interest in the Jerusalem ministry, and a special 
reason why St. John should tell of it. Inevitably 
the Galilean ministry which preceded it would not 
appear so important, and would be treated in the 
summary manner in which it is treated in the Fourth 
Gospel. 

When we examine this Gospel closely and compare 
the few incidents common to it and the Synoptists, it 
is evident that these incidents are not given in the 
Fourth Gospel in chronological order. A criticism 
of the discourses yields the same result. The Fourth 
Gospel is dominated by a topical interest, still more 
than the first Gospel; and a later dogmatic purpose 
is still more evident. 

If the materials of incident and discourse have 
been arranged by the present author for topical and 
dogmatic reasons, and critics can detect the seams 
and irregularities, it is evident that the material came 
from the author's sources and not from himself. It 
is possible that some of this material came from the 
Synoptists ; but it is evident that the most of it came 
from an independent source. It is thus probable 
that the Fourth Gospel was named the Gospel of 
John because a gospel of the apostle underlies it, 
just as the Logia of the apostle Matthew underlies 
the Gospel of Matthew. 

The question now arises whether this material was 
the oral teaching of the apostle John, as the oral teach- 



12 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

ing of the apostle Peter underlies Mark ; or whether 
there was a written gospel of St. John underlying 
John as a written Logia of St. Matthew underlies the 
Gospel of Matthew. Wendt favours the former sup- 
position.^ The latter seems to me more probable. It 
is possible to suppose that the apostle in his teach- 
ing told of certain events in the ministry of Jesus, 
and gave Jesus' teaching at different times, without 
regard to chronological arrangement, or even topical 
arrangement, except so far as it may have suited his 
purpose at the time. But the difficulty with this sup- 
position is that the present arrangement of the ma- 
terial cannot be explained in that way. As Wendt 
shows in several instances, which may be largely 
increased, there has been a change from an original 
and better order. These changes imply a written 
original where the material was in a more natural 
order. Were these changes intentional or uninten- 
tional? The latter supposition may explain a few 
of these cases. But the greater number of them can 
only be explained by the intention of the author to 
give them an order more in accordance with his dog- 
matic purpose. 

A criticism of the material shows that there 
have been two hands, and in some cases three, 
at work upon this Gospel. There are differences 
of language, style, historical situation and con- 
ception between these writers. The original John 
was doubtless written in the Hebrew language. That 

1 Das Johannesevangelium, 1900, s. 217 sq. 



SOURCES OF TEACHING OF JESUS. 13 

explains best the Hebraisms of this Gospel. It was 
translated, and its material was rearranged and re- 
composed, for dogmatic purposes, by the second 
author, who was doubtless a pupil of the great 
apostle. 

In the study of the teaching of Jesus in the Fourth 
Gospel we must first distinguish between that which 
came from the original gospel, and the dogmatic 
amplification of the author of the present Gospel. 
We must then endeavor to find the original thought, 
which underlies the material derived from the origi- 
nal gospel, by seeking the Hebrew thought which 
has been not only translated, but also transformed 
by the writer. Great help in this is given so soon as 
the material is readjusted to its chronological order 
in harmony with the Synoptic Gospels. This proc- 
ess is not so difficult or uncertain in its results as 
some may think. For, as we shall show in our next 
chapter, the form and method of the Teaching of 
Jesus may be accurately defined. The essentials of 
His teaching may be clearly stated. The order of 
development in his teaching may be seen, at least in 
some measure. And we may say, with confidence, 
that the additions of the evangelists, their condensa- 
tions, amplifications, and variations, are normal and 
correct. They do not change the substance, but only 
the forms and relations of the Teaching of Jesus. 



II. 

The Foem and Method of the Teaching of Jesus. 

The TeacMng of Jesus as it appears in the four 
Gospels and in early Christian Literature, has certain 
forms and methods which it is necessary to consider 
before we can understand its substance. These 
forms and methods were those of his own time, used 
by the religious teachers among the Jews. Jesus 
appears as a rabbi among rabbis. The two chief 
methods of teaching in the time of Jesus were distin- 
guished as Halacha and Haggada} The Halacha was 
exposition and application of the Law, usually in the 
form of dialogue between the master and his pupils, 
with questions and answer. This method and form 
appear in the Mishna and the Beraitha and also in 
later strata of the Talmuds. It was also essentially 
the method of Socrates, the prince of the philosophers 
of Greece. The Haggada was the more popular 
method, embracing the illustrative teaching of his- 
toric fiction as well as stories of the imagination, both 
in a prose form; and similes, allegories, enigmas, 
and shrewd sayings, in the poetic forms of Hebrew 
Wisdom. The earliest tract of the Mishna, the Say- 
ings of the Fathers, contains fine specimens of the 
latter, which had however more ample representation 

1 General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 430 sq., 
437 sq. 

14 



FORM AND METHOD. 15 

in the apocryphal Wisdom of Sirach, and Wisdom 
of Solomon, and in the canonical Proverbs, Job and 
Ecclesiastes. The former appears in the Old Testa- 
ment in the stories of Ruth, Jonah, Esther, and 
Daniel; and in the Apocrypha, in Tobit, IV Macca- 
bees, Judith, and in the Greek additions to Daniel, 
Esther and Ezra. It also appears in many beautiful 
stories in the Talmud and early Jewish Litera- 
ture. 

Jesus, in his instruction, uses all these methods 
and all these forms. In all the Gospels he appears as 
rabbi, teacher and master. He is compared with 
other rabbis of the people. The distinctive feature 
in his teaching was not in form and method, but in 
this one thing. He spake with authority. Instead 
of appealing to Rabbinical authorities, he did not 
hesitate to oppose those authorities and the authority 
of the traditional Law.^ Thus he came into conflict 
with the rabbis of his time, and one of the most char- 
acteristic features of his life was his continual dis- 
cussions with them. 

The most striking feature of the Teaching of 
Jesus, and that which has received the most consid- 
eration, is his parables. 

I. The parables of Jesus are the choicest speci- 
mens of parabolic teaching in the world's literature. 
They are easily superior to all that Jewish literature 
contains, in the form and method in which they are 
told. These parables are of two kinds, 

iMt. V. 21-48; Mk. i. 21-28. 



16 SOURCES OF TEACHING OF JESUS. 

(A) The parables of the Kingdom. Some of 
these are given by Mark on different occasions. In 
this Luke agrees with Mark. But Matthew gathers 
them in four groups. 

(I.) By the Sea} 

(1) The Sower. 

(2) The Tares. 

(3) The Mustard-seed. 

(4) The Leaven. 

(5) The Hidden Treasure. 

(6) The Pearl of Great Price. 

(7) The Drag-net. 

(8) The Householder. 

Only one of these, that of the Sower, is given by 
Luke here.2 Mark gives also the parable of the Mus- 
tard-seed,^ which is used by Luke with the parable 
of the Leaven in connection with the Perean minis- 
try.'* Mark^ also gives in this connection one pecu- 
liar to himself: the parable of the Seed Growing 
Secretly. It is probable that the parable of the Sower 
was the only one spoken by Jesus on this occasion. 
The others were added by the evangelists here for 
topical reasons. The parable of the Sower is ex- 
plained by Jesus, in Mark, followed by Matthew and 
Luke, as having the purpose of concealing a mystery, 
to be revealed only to the initiated. ''Unto you is 



1 Mt. xiii. 1-53. 2 Lk. viii. 4-15. 

3 Mk. iv. 1-20, 30-32. * Lk. xiii. 18-19, 20-21. 

6 Mk. iv. 26-29. 



FORM AND METHOD. 17 

given the mystery of the Kingdom of God; hut unto 
them that are ivithout, all things are done in par- 
ables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive; 
and hearing they may hear, and not understand.'''^ 
These parables all belong to the class of enigmas; 
they need a clue, a key which Jesus gave to his dis- 
ciples, but to no others. This is true of all the par- 
ables of the kingdom, for the reason that the king- 
dom was for the most part future and even eschato- 
logical. Three other groups are given in Matthew. 

(II.) On the last Journey to Jerusalem. 

(1) The parable germ of the lost Sheep.^ 

(2) The unmerciful Servant.^ 

(3) The Labourers in the vineyard.^ 

Two of these are peculiar to Matthew and are par- 
ables of the kingdom. The parable germ is of a dif- 
ferent character, and as it is given more completely 
in Luke,^ we shall consider it there. 

(III.) Parables of Warning in Passion-week, 

(1) TheTwoSons.^ 

(2) The Wicked Husbandmen.'^ 

(3) The Marriage Feast. ^ 

Only one of these, the Wicked Husbandmen, com- 
mon to the three Synoptists, really belongs here.^ 

i]Mk. iv. 11-22; Mt. xiii. 11-13; Lk. viii. 10. 
2Mt. xviii. 12-14. a Mt. xviii. 23-3o. 

^ Mt. XX. 1-16. 5 Lk. XV. 4-7. 

6 Mt. xxi. 28-32. t Mt. xxi. 33-41. 

8Mt. xxii. 1-14. 9Mk. xii. 1-9; Lk. xx. 9-16. 

2 



18 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

The parable of the Two Sons is peculiar to Matthew ; 
that of the Marriage Feast is given by Luke else- 
where.^ 

(IV.) Parables attached to the Eschatological 

Discourse. 

(1) The Fig-tree.2 

(2) The Unwatchful Householder.^ 

(3) The Two Servants.^ 

(4) The Virgins.^ 

(5) The Talents.^ 

Only one of these, that of the Fig-tree, belongs here 
according to the three evangelists,^ the other four are 
given by Luke at an earlier date, the last two in 
somewhat different forms.^ 

(B) Luke gives four parables, which it derives 
from Mark ; the Sower, the Mustard-seed, the Wicked 
Husbandmen, and the Fig-tree. These are in Mat- 
thew also. Seven it has in common with Matthew, 
though different in form and detail, namely— the 
Leaven, the Lost Sheep, the Unwatchful Servant, the 
Two Servants, the Great Supper, the Pounds, the 
Virgins. Thirteen of its parables are not in the 
other Gospels. 



1 Lk. xiv. 15-24. 2 Mt. xxiv. 22-Z6. 

3 Mt. xxiv. 43-44. * Mt. xxiv. 45-51. 

5Mt. XXV. 1-11. 6 Mt. XXV. 14-30. 

7Mk. xiii. 28-29; Lk. xxi. 29-31. 
8Lk. xii. 39-40, 42-46, 35-38; xix 11-28. 



FORM AND METHOD. 19 

(I.) In the Galilean Ministry. 

(1) The two Debtors.! 

(II.) In the Perean Ministry. 

(2) The Good Samaritan.^ 

(3) The Friend at Midnight. ^ 

(4) The Eich Fool.* 

(5) The Chief Seats at Feasts.^ 

(6) The Feast for the Poor.^ 

(7) The Lost Coin.^ 

(8) The Prodigal Son.^ 

(9) The Wise Servant.^ 

(10) Dives and Lazarus.^^ 

(11) The Unprofitable Servant.ii 

(12) The Unjust Judge.12 

(13) The Pharisee and Publican.^^ 

These are of an entirely different character from 
the parables of the kingdom. They are not enig- 
matical; bnt are illustrative. They are parables of 
divine love and salvation. Jesus either applies them 
himself, or lets those who hear them, apply them 
themselves. These, with one exception, belong to 
the Perean ministry and represent a later stage of 
instruction than those given by the sea in the Gali- 



I Lk. vii. 41-42. 2 Lk. x. 30-37. 

3 Lk. xi. 5-8. * Lk. xii. 13-21. 

5Lk. xiv. 7-11. 6Lk. xiv. 12-14. 

'Lk. XV. 8-10. 8Lk. xv. 11-32. 

9Lk. xvi. 1-8. 10 Lk. xvi. 19-31. 

II Lk. xvii. 7-10. 12 Lk. xviii. 1-8. 
13 Lk. xviii. 9-14. 



20 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JE8US. 

lean ministry. Parables of the kingdom come again 
in Passion-week and on the last journey to Jeru- 
salem, because the situation made it necessary that 
the teaching of Jesus should be eschatological. 

(C) The Gospel of John contains no parables 
such as we have seen in the two previous groups. 
But it incidentally refers to parabolic teaching.^ It 
also gives the allegories of the Good Shepherd,^ and 
of the Vine,^ which in some respects resemble par- 
ables. It is probable that these have been trans- 
formed by the author, so that their original Jewish 
parabolic form has been abandoned for the form of 
the allegory of Greek Literature.^ 

In all this kind of instruction of Jesus, it is neces- 
sary to consider the special form and method in order 
to understand it. The author of the Fourth Gospel 
has indeed pointed the way for us. We must trans- 
late the parabolic form into the forms of Western 
and modern thought in order to understand the sub- 
stance of the teaching. 

II. The greater part of the Teaching of Jesus, as 
it appears in Matthew and Luke, is in the gnomic 
form of Hebrew Wisdom. This for the most part 
was derived by these Gospels from the Logia of the 
apostle Matthew. Some few of the logia are given 
in the present Mark ; and still fewer in the Gospel of 

1 Jn. X. 6. 2 jn. X. 1-21. a jn. xv. 1-8. 

<It should also be said that "parable" in the Greek word used, 
iraf)a.[3o/irj , stands for the Hebrew h^n, and comprehends in the Gos- 
pels a considerable number of logia in the form of emblems, or com- 
parisons, as well as those which are usually regarded as parables. 



FORM AND METHOD. 21 

John. All of these came from a Hebrew original, 
arranged in the parallelisms of Hebrew poetry, dis- 
tich, tristich, tetrastich, pentastich, octastich, nono- 
stich, decastich; and they have the measures of 
Hebrew poetry, trimeters, tetrameters, pentameters 
and hexameters.^ They sometimes have strophical 
organization, bnt none of them is of any great length. 
All of the Gospels disregard more or less the poetic 
structure. The logia are sometimes condensed, and 
sometimes enlarged by explanatory statements; but 
it is quite easy to find their original form, and so get 
the very words of Jesus in the form in which he 
uttered them. Seldom do the Synoptic Gospels do 
more than translate their originals into correspond- 
ing words in Greek. Fortunately we have several of 
these logia in the Fourth Gospel which we may com- 
pare with their originals in the Synoptists, and so 
discern the author's method of dealing with them. 

(1) ^^For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet 
hath no honour in his own country/'^ This is 
attached to the story of the going through Samaria 
to Galilee. But it is followed by the statement: ^^80 
when he came into Galileo, the Galileans received 
him, having seen all the things that he did in Jeru- 
salem at the Feast; for they also went unto the 
Feast/^ But this last verse is contradictory to the 
previous one, if they belonged together, the first 
implying an impending rejection in Galilee, when 

1 General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 385 sq. 

2 Jn. iv. 43-45. 



22 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

the last asserts his acceptance by the Galileans. This 
verse is indeed preparatory to the story of the heal- 
ing of the nobleman ^s son on the second journey to 
Galilee; and it represents a different situation alto- 
gether from the narrative which closes with v. 44. 
There is a clear evidence of displacement of the origi- 
nal order. The story of the Samaritan journey was 
really subsequent to the narratives beginning with 
V. 45. The Synoptic Gospels give this Logion with 
the rejection at Nazareth. 

^'A prophet is not without honour, save in his own 
country, and among his oivn kin, and in his own 
house/^^ 

^^ A prophet is not without honour, save in his own 
country, and in his own house/ ^^ 

^'No prophet is acceptable in his own country.''^ 

It is evident that Luke is nearer to the original 
logion than Matthew and Mark, which enlarge the 
original— ^^m his own country/' This alone is com- 
mon to them all, and was sufficient. Luke alone gives 
us the similar saying: ^'Physician, heal thyself,'^ 
which, as we would infer, contains the original paral- 
lel member of the distich. Fortunately the recently 
discovered collection of logia of Jesus^ gives us a 
couplet which guides to the original, which was prob- 
ably as follows : 

''A prophet hath no honour in his own country. 
A physician doth not work cures with them that know him," 



1 Mk. vi. 4. 2 Mt. xiii. 57. 3 Lk. iv. 23-24. 

< Sayings of our Lord, Grenfell and Hunt, p. 14. 



FORM AND METHOD. 23 

In this case the Gospel of John is nearest to the 
original logion. There can be no doubt that the re- 
jection at Nazareth was the occasion of the utterance. 
We may safely say that the journey through Samaria 
immediately preceded that rejection in the original 
Gospel of St. John.^ The use of this logion seems 
to imply that the story of that rejection was in the 
original, and that it was omitted by the second author 
of the Fourth Gospel. 

(2) ^^He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that 
hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life 
eternal/'^ 

This same logion is given in the Synoptists.^ The 
two uses in Matthew and Luke are due to the fact 
that one of these is derived from Mark in connection 
with the story of Jesus ' prediction of his impending 
death and resurrection, at the close of the Galilean 
ministry. The other uses were derived from the 
Logia of St. Matthew, and were attached by Matthew 
to the Commission of the Twelve, but by Luke to the 
early eschatological discourse on the last journey to 
Jerusalem. The Gospel of John gives the logion in 
the last days of Passion-week in Jerusalem itself. 
It is evident that it belongs somewhere in the last 
week of Jesus ' life. The time of Luke ^s eschatolog- 
ical discourse is near to the time of Mark's predic- 
tion of the death and resurrection. It is possible 

1 'New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 45-46, 151-152. 

2 Jn. xii. 25. 

s Mt. X. 39, xvi. 25; Mk. viii. 35; Lk. ix. 24, xvii. 33. 



24 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

that they are coincident in time. The connection of 
Mark is most probable in itself. The logion was 
given in its present place in John because of the 
reference to the death of Jesus which precedes it. 
When the version of John is compared with those of 
the Synoptists, it is evident that, while the antithe- 
tical parallelism has been preserved, in other re- 
spects the language of the original has been entirely 
transformed. It is possible that this was due not to 
the original gospel of St. John, but to the author of 
the present Gospel. The original was doubtless as 
follows : 

'' Whoso findeth his life shall lose it; 
But whoso loseth his life shall find it."^ 

(3) "A servant is not greater than his lord; 

Neither is one that is sent greater than he that sent him." ^ 

"He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; 
And he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." ' 

Both of these are attached by Matthew to the Com- 
mission of the Twelve.^ Luke gives the former in 
connection with its version of the Sermon on the 
Mount,^ the latter in connection with the Commission 
of the Seventy.^ These logia seem out of place, and 
indeed to be tacked on, in both the passages of Luke. 
They are still less appropriate in Matthew. They 

1 See General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 
69 sq.; where I show that the couplet in this form explains all the 
versions of it in the four Gospels. 

2 Jn. xiii. 16. 3 Jn. xiii. 20. * Mt. x. 24, 40. 
6 Lk. vi. 40. 6 Lk. x. 16. 



FORM AND METHOD. 25 

seem mucli more appropriate to the situation where 
they are given in John, and they seem nearer to the 
original in John. It is evident however that this 
gospel uses but little of the Wisdom of Jesus, be- 
cause it does not come within the scope of its plan to 
use it. 

So far as this method of Wisdom is concerned, we 
must know its poetic form, the nature of the paral- 
lelism and take account of its poetic conception, be- 
fore we can safely understand its teaching. 

III. A considerable portion of the Teaching of 
Jesus is of the nature of Halacha, especially in the 
Gospels of Mark and John. It is probable that his 
teaching in the synagogues was chiefly of this kind, 
as it was an interpretation and application of the 
Scriptures of the Old Testament. A good example 
of this is given in the discourse in the synagogue of 
Nazareth when he was rejected. Luke only gives the 
theme of the discourse.^ It was an exposition and 
application of the prophecy of Isaiah.^ But it was 
accompanied with specimens of his wisdom, as is evi- 
dent not only from the logion given,^ but also from 
the statements of Matthew and Mark.^ Another dis- 
course is reported at a much later date in the syna- 
gogue of Capernaum, in John only.^ In this Jesus 
presents himself as the bread of life, probably as the 
context shows, on the basis of the story of the giving 
of the manna in the wilderness. His discourses in 



1 Lk. iv. 16-30. 2 isa. Ixi. 1 sq. 3 Lk, iv. 23-24. 

4 Mt. xiii. 54 : Mk. vi. 2. e Jn. vi. 22-59. 



26 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESU8, 

the synagogues are not given elsewhere, though they 
constituted a large part of his earlier ministry. The 
Halacha preserved for us in Mark and the other Syn- 
optists, is chiefly that used in dicussions with the 
Pharisees. In these discussions Jesus employed the 
method of reasoning of the rabbis of his time, and 
these methods must be considered with all their faults 
if we are to get a true understanding of his teaching.^ 
This method was convincing to the rabbis of his time, 
however little some of it may satisfy modern reason- 
ing. The first example of this reasoning given by 
Mark^ is the argument to justify his forgiveness of 
the sin of the paralytic. This is an argument from 
greater to less. Many others are given in Mark as 
follows : 

(h) The justification of himself for eating with 
publicans and sinners.^ 

(c) The argument as to the time of fasting,* to 
which a logion is appended, which Luke calls a par- 
able. 

(d) The justification of his disciples for plucking 
ears of grain on the Sabbath.^ 

(e) The justification of his healing the man with 
the withered hand on the Sabbath.^ 



1 General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 430 sq., 
437 sq. 
2Mk. ii. 1-12; Mt. ix. 2-8; Lk. v. 17-26. 
3Mk. ii. 17; Mt. ix. 12-13; Lk. v. 31-32. 
4 Mk. ii. 19-20; Mt. ix. 15; Lk. v. 34-35. 
«Mk. ii. 25-28; Mt. xii. 3-8; Lk. vi. 3-5. 
« Mk. iii. 4; Mt. xii. 11-12; Lk. vi. 9. 



FORM AND METHOD. 27 

(/) The argument as to Beelzebub casting out 

devils.^ 

{g) The argument as to eating without previous 

ceremonial purification.^ 

(h) The argument with his disciples as to the 

leaven of the Pharisees.^ 

{i) The discussion as to who is greatest in the 

kingdom.^ 

{j) The argument with John against forbidding 

one not a disciple to cast out devils.^ 

(Zc) The argument as to divorce,^ to which a 

logion is added in Mark and Matthew, and an addi- 
tional logion in Matthew. 

{I) Argument with the young ruler and the counsel 

of perfection.'^ 

(m) Reproof of the ambition of James and John.^ 
{n) Justification of Mary for anointing him.^ 
(o) Justification for his cleansing the temple.^^ 
{p) Argument with the Pharisees as to authority.^ ^ 
(g) Argument with the Herodians as to tribute.^- 



1 Mk. iii. 22-27; Mt. xii. 22-29; Lk. xi. 14-22. 

2 Mk. vii. 6-23 ; Mt. xv. 3-20 ; cf . Lk. xi. 37-40. 
3Mk. viii. 14-21; Mt. xvi. 5-12; cf. Lk. xii. 1. 
*Mk. ix. 33-37; Mt. xviii. 1-5; Lk. ix. 46-48. 
f Mk. ix. 38-40; Lk. ix. 49-50. 

6Mk. X. 2-12; Mt. xix. 3-12. 

7 Mk. x. 17-31; Mt. xix. 16-30; Lk. xviii. 18-30. 

8 Mk. X. 35-45 ; Mt. xx. 20-28. Logia are added which appear in 
Lk. xxii. 25-26. 

9Mk. xiv. 3-9; Mt. xxvi. 6-13; Jn. xii. 1-8. 
10 Mk. xi. 15-19; Mt. xxi. 12-17; Lk. xix. 45-48; Jn. ii. 16. 
" Mk. xi. 27-33 ; Mt. xxi. 23-27 ; Lk. xx. 1-8. 
12 Mk. xii. 13-17; Mt. xxii. 15-22; Lk. xx. 20-26. 



28 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

(r) Argument with the Sadducees as to the Kesur- 

rection.^ 

(5) Argumeiit with a Pharisee as to the Law.^ 
(t) The argument as to David's son.^ 
(u) The praise of the widow casting her mite.* 
The Gospel of Matthew depends upon Mark for all 

this material and adds nothing to it. Luke gives 

little that is additional. 

(a) The question as to the Law, which is probably 
a confusion of I and s of Mark, as a basis for the 
parable of the Good Samaritan.^ 

(b) The justification of his healing the woman on 
the Sabbath.^ 

(c) The justification of his healing the man with 
dropsy on the Sabbath."^ 

The Gospel of John agrees with the Gospel of 
Mark in giving chiefly HalacJia. These are to a 
great extent buried in the present arrangement of the 
discourses of John, but it is not difficult to discern 
them. 

(a) The argument with Nicodemus.^ 
(h) The argument with the disciples.^ 
(c) Justification of his healing the infirm man on 
the Sabbath.i^ 



iMk. xii. 18-27; Mt. xxii. 23-33; Lk. xx. 27-40. 

2 Mk. xii. 28-34; Mt. xxii. 34-40. 

3 Mk. xii. 35-37; Mt. xxii. 41-46; Lk. xx. 41-44. 

4 Mk. xii. 41-44; Lk. xxi. 1-4. 

s Lk. X. 25-28. e Lk. xiii. 10-17. ' Lk. xiv. 1-6. 

8 Jn. iii. 1-12. s Jn. iv. 31-38. 

10 Jn. V. 2-47, continued in vii. 14-24. 



FORM AND METHOD. 29 

{d) Discussion with the Pharisees as to sin and 
his preexistence.^ 

(e) Discussion as to sin and its punishment.^ • 

(/) Discussion with the Pharisees as to the Son of 
God.3 

{g) The Discussion with the disciples at the Last 
Supper.^ 

{h) The discussion with Peter as to love.^ 

These Halacha of John's Gospel are doubtless 
from the original gospel of St. John, but they have 
been worked over by the author of the present gospel 
and have received a dogmatic form as well as inter- 
pretations and applications. 

IV. Jesus was not only a teacher, a rabbi, but he 
was a prophet, and therefore his teaching assumes 
the prophetic type. Even in the Haggada and 
Halacha, the prophetic element is preeminent. But 
we have also in the Gospels material which is apart 
from rabbinical methods and which finds its preced- 
ents in the Old Testament prophets. It was in- 
deed as a prophet that Mark represents Jesus 
as going into Galilee after the death of John 
the Baptist, preaching that the Kingdom of God 
was at hand and calling the people to repentance 
unto Salvation.^ Luke represents that he went in the 
power of the divine Spirit. His miracle-working 
was the work of a prophet, and his preaching was 



1 Jn. viii. 31-59. 2 Jn. ix. 1-3, 40-41. 3 jn. x. 24-39. 

*Jn. xiv. 1 sq. ^ Jn, xxi. 15-23. 

6Mk. i. 14-15; Mt. iv. 17; Lk. iv. 14-15. 



30 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

also that of a prophet. There are in the Synoptic 
Gospels only two discourses which may be regarded 
as prophetic discourses, namely the final eschatolog- 
ical discourse/ and the earlier eschatological dis- 
course,^ both of which are combined in Matthew.^ 
These are apocalyptic in character. But besides these 
discourses, there are a number of lesser prophetic 
words, which remind us rather of the earlier prophets 
of action of the Old Testament than of the later pro- 
phetic writers. His words to the messengers of John 
the Baptist^ are prophetic words, especially when he 
calls attention to the fact that the poor have good 
tidings preached to them, and in his reference to the 
Baptist's relation to himself, although in the Gospels 
these are mingled with logia. The prophetic ele- 
ment appears in Mark especially at the close of the 
Galilean ministry in his prediction of his death and 
resurrection,^ in his rebuke of the ambition of James 
and John,^ in his prediction of the betrayal of Judas 
and the fall of Peter."^ Jesus acts as a prophet in 
his symbolic blessing of little children;'^ and in his 
cursing of the fig-tree^ and in his cleansing of the 

1 Mlc. xiii; Lk. xxi. 2 Lk. xvii. 22-37. 

3 Mt. xxiv. See Messiah of tJie Gospels, chap. IV. 

* Lk. vii. 18-35; Mt. xi. 2-19. 

sMk. viii. 31-ix. 1; Mt. xvi. 21-28; Lk. ix. 22-27; also Mk. ix. 
30-32; Mt. xvii. 22-23; Lk. ix. 43-45. 

eMk. X. 35-45; Mt. xx. 20-28. 

'Mk. xiv. 18-21, 27-31; Mt. xxvi. 21-25, 31-35; Lk. xxii. 21-23, 
31-34; Jn. xiii. 21-30, 36-38. 

8Mk. ix. 33-37; Mt. xviii. 1-5; Lk. ix. 46-48; also Mk. x. 13-16; 
Mt. xix. 13-] 5; Lk. xviii. 15-17. 

9Mk. xi. 12-14; Mt. xxi. 18-19. 



FORM AND METHOD, 31 

temple/ The call to repentance comes out strongly 
in Luke.^ 

In the Gospel of John this feature is also prominent 
in a large number of passages. Jesus appears as a 
prophet.^ 

{a) With the woman of Samaria.^ 

{h) In the temple at the feast of Tabernacles.^ 

{c) At the Feast of Dedication.^ 

{d) To the blind man in Jerusalem."^ 

(e) To Martha in his discourse as to resurrec- 
tion.^ 

(/) To the Greeks in the temple.^ 

{g) In his words as to judgment. 

{h) In predictions at the last Supper.^ ^ 

(i) In post-resurrection predictions.^^ 

{j) In the intercessory prayer.^ ^ 

Jesus was also a prophet in his symbolic actions : 

{a) In the washing of his disciples' feet with its 
interpretation.^^ 

{h) In the breathing on his disciples to indicate 
the coming of the Holy Spirit.^ ^ 

It has become evident in the progress of our 
studies that while for the most part we may distin- 
guish the four great methods of Jesus in his teach- 

iMk. xi. 15-19; Mt. xxi. 12-17; Lk. xix. 45-48. 

2 Lk. xiii. 1-9. 3 jn. iv. 4-26. 

* Jn. vii. 33-34, 37-38. s jn. viii. 12-29. 

6 Jn. ix. 35-39. '' Jn. xi. 25 sq. 

8 Jn. xii. 20-36. » Jn. xii. 44-50. 

10 Jn. xiii. 31-35, xiv. 12-30. " Jn. xv. 8-xvi. 33. 

12 Jn. xvii. " Jn. xiii. 4-20. 
H Jn. XX. 22-23. 



32 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

ing and preaching, yet they not infrequently overlap, 
especially in the material as given to us in the pres- 
ent arrangement of the Gospels. If we had the origi- 
nals, these would probably appear more carefully 
distinguished. And yet even if we had the originals, 
it would doubtless appear that Jesus sometimes com- 
bined two or more methods at one time. 

There is a wonderful variety and beauty as well 
as simplicity and grandeur in this Teaching of Jesus. 
It is incomparably superior in every one of its forms 
and methods to the teaching of the greatest rabbis of 
his times, if we may judge of them from all that has 
been preserved in the Talmuds. We have rich and 
varied material which yields the most important re- 
sults as to substance as well as form. We study the 
form of his teaching in order that we may the better 
understand its substance. The form has given that 
substance a stereotyped permanence which enables us 
to be sure that we have the Teaching of Jesus him- 
self and of no other. It is not difficult to determine 
the additions and changes made by the evangelists or 
by oral tradition in the transmission of the Teaching 
from Jesus himself to the form in which it appears 
in the four Gospels. 

The methods of Jesus were followed by his dis- 
ciples only in part in their preaching and teaching in 
the Orient, in the early apostolic times. These 
methods were not suited to the Greek and Roman 
world, for whom, for the most part, the New Testa- 
ment Writings in their present form were prepared. 



FORM AND METHOD. 33 

And therefore the type of Jesus' Teaching may 
readily be distinguished from the Graeco-Eoman type 
in which the New Testament writers set it. The 
methods of Jesus were indeed given over by the early 
Christians to the Jewish enemies of Christianity. 
And therefore the Teaching of Jesus by a remarkable 
historic situation became stereotyped in a form which 
has remained forever that of the Master himself and 
which cannot be mistaken for another's. It is not 
difficult therefore to get close to the very words of 
the Master himself in the very forms in which he 
himself gave them to his disciples. 



III. 

The Will of the Fathek. 

The earliest incident mentioned in the Gospels in 
connection with Jesus, in which we can find ethical 
content, is given in Lnke.^ 

At twelve years of age Jesns goes with his parents 
to Jerusalem and is left behind by mistake. When 
they anxiously return to seek him, they find him with 
the rabbis in the temple's outer courts, hearing in- 
struction and asking questions. When his parents 
remonstrate with him he gives as his excuse : ^ ^ Knew 
ye not that I must be about my Father's business T'^ 

Jesus here conceives it as his ethical norm to be 
occupied in doing the business, the affairs, and we 
may say the will of the Father. He knows God as 
his own Father, and he is so assured of his sonship 
that his will is ethically one with the will of God, and 
he knows that his task is to be engaged in the affairs 
of God. 

Jesus remained in obscurity in Nazareth, working 
as a worker in wood, and growing in knowledge and 
in grace, until he was about thirty years of age. 
Doubtless this was in fulfilment of the will of God as 



1 Lk. ii. 40-52. 

2 So A. v. ; the R.V, " In my Father's house/' although a correct 
explanation of the Greek phrase, and suited in some respects to the 
situation, is not so appropriate as the A.V. See Messiah of the 
Gospels, p. 234. 

34 



THE WILL OF THE FATHER. 35 

known to him in his inmost (Consciousness. Other- 
wise it is difficult to explain this long obscurity in his 
short life. 

He then went down to the Jordan, probably after 
the feast of Tabernacles, to be baptized by John the 
Baptist. The divine approval of him is expressed 
by the theophanic voice : 

" Thou art my beloved son. 
In Thee I am well pleased." ^ 

Jesus is thus recognized as the Son of God, in the 
Messianic sense, as beloved and accepted, and espe- 
cially as entirely approved by his Father, as entirely 
conformed to His will. This is in fact an approval 
of all the life of Jesus up to the hour of baptism, and 
also of his action in receiving the baptism of John 
the Baptist. 

Immediately after his baptism, Jesus underwent 
his great temptation. In this temptation^ he holds 
forth the word of God as the norm of his own con- 
duct, and appeals to it in response to every test. 
Mark simply mentions the temptation, but gives no 
account of its nature, or the results of it. The temp- 
tation according to Matthew and Luke, was to rise 
above the will of God in the exercise of his authority 
as the Messiah. Jesus declines to do this, but sub- 
mits himself to the divine will. 

{a) He is tempted to work a miracle, which would 
have been little more than the one he subsequently 

1 Mk. i. 11; Lk. iii. 22; cf. Mt. iii. 17; Jn. i. 34. 
2Mk. i. 12-13; Mt. iv. 1-11; Lk. iv. 1-13. 



36 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

wrought when feeding- the multitude. There was a 
sufficient motive, here as there, namely hunger. But 
Jesus was in the wilderness for the higher task of 
communion with God, in order to prepare for his 
Messianic activity, which he was about to begin. To 
this situation the word applied : 

" Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that 
proceedeth out of the mouth of God." ^ 

Man should live in accordance with the will of 
God, as coming from the mouth of God. This is oral, 
rather than written guidance.^ This was in anti- 
thesis with the manna of the wilderness; not by 
manna only, but by the Word of God. Jesus thus 
recognizes for himself and his disciples that the word 
of God is the food of the soul, and that this is ever to 
be ethically higher than the satisfaction of the hunger 
of the body. It is a yielding to temptation when 
the hunger of the soul is neglected in order to satisfy 
the hunger of the body. There are times when the 
soul should be so absorbed in feeding upon the word 
of God, that the hunger of the body will not be ex- 
perienced, or if experienced, will be altogether 
neglected. Jesus wa3 so engaged at the time. He 
was in the ecstatic state, absorbed in communion with 
God. To turn away from the inward communion to 
the outward feeding, would have been a yielding to 
temptation, and the commission of sin. 

(b) The second temptation was for Jesus to test 
a divine word by casting himself from the pinnacle 

1 Dt. viii. 3. 2 Luke omits the second half of the command. 



THE WILL OF THE FATHER. 37 

of the temple, and appearing as the Son of Man from 
the clouds. This temptation to act as the Son of 
Man from heaven, the triumphant, royal Messiah of 
the second Advent, of apocalyptic prophecy, when 
he had come as the Messiah of the first Advent, the 
Messiah of suffering and preaching, according to the 
will of his Father, was rejected by applying another 
divine word: " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy 
God.''i 

The experience of Moses^ in tempting God, was a 
warning not only to Israel, but to Jesus and his dis- 
ciples. To act as the Messiah of the second Advent 
prematurely, would have been to reject his call as the 
Messiah of suffering of the first Advent, and would 
have been a sin. 

{c) The third temptation was to assume Messianic 
authority in submitting to the Satan, the prince of 
the world. This is repulsed by: '^ Thou shalt wor- 
ship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou 
serve. ' '^ 

God is the supreme and only one to reverence 
and worship. To do homage to Satan, even so far as 
to recognize him as rightful prince of this world, 
would be for Jesus to dishonour his own mission, 
which had as one of its chief aims to destroy the 
power of Satan and restore mankind to the supreme 
dominion of God. 

In all these cases Jesus applies Deuteronomic prin- 
ciples, rather than to rise above them in the assertion 

» Dt. vi. 16. 2 Nu. 20. 3 Dt. vi. 13. 



38 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

of Ms Messianic authority. He thus recognizes the 
Deuteronomic Law, and, through the Law, God as 
the ethical norm to which he and his are ethically 
bound. 

During the Galilean ministry on one occasion, 
while teaching, surrounded by a crowd, his mother 
and brethren desire to speak with him. He im- 
proves the opportunity to teach the supreme impor- 
tance of doing the will of God.^ 

" Whosoever doeth the Will of God, 
The same is my brother and my mother." ^ 

The Will of God is an ethical norm higher than 
any commands, and nearest to God Himself. Jesus' 
conception is that all such as follow this norm are 
thereby in a relation to God which constitutes them 
one family, and that those in this family of God are 
closer than members of a family, who are bound by 
ties of physical descent.^ 

At the close of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said : 

" Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
Shall enter into the kingdom of God; 
But he that doeth the will of my Father." * 

This is condensed in Luke^ into: ^'And why call 
ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I 

iMk. iii. 31-35; Mt. xii. 46-50; Lk. viii. 19-21. 

2 Such was the logion in its original form. See General Intro- 
duction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 305 sq. where I have 
discussed it. 

3 It is quite natural therefore that Matthew should change "God" 
of the original text to " Father which is in heaven." 

* Mt. vii. 21. 5 Lk. vi. 46. 



TEE WILL OF TEE FATEER. 39 

sajV^ Here the profession of allegiance to Christ, 
the recognition of his sovereignty and lordship is 
in antithesis with doing the Father's Will. The 
Father's Will is the supreme ethical norm of the 
disciple; conformity to that Will is necessary in 
order to enter the kingdom of God: profession of 
faith in Jesus Christ, in the recognition of him as 
sovereign lord, is not sufficient. One who bases his 
hopes of entrance into the kingdom of glory on that 
alone, will certainly fail. 

In the early Perean ministry, Jesus, in response to 
the request of his disciples, teaches them a form of 
prayer.^ The original was probably : 

" Father, hallowed be Thy name ; 
Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done. 
Give us this day our daily bread. 
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass 

against us. 
Bring us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil." 

There are tive petitions ; the first and second be- 
long under this head, the others will be considered 
later in appropriate connections. ^ The disciples of 
Jesus are to pray to Grod as their Father, and ap- 
proach Him as children. His name is to be hallowed 
by them, and their first petition is that it may be hal- 
lowed by all. The second petition is that the 
Father's kingdom may come, and His dominion ex- 

^ Lk. xi. 2-4. It is given in a fuller form in Mt. vi. 9-13 in con- 
nection with the Sermon on the Mount; but out of place. Both de- 
rive it from the Logia of the apostle Matthew. 

2 See pp. 73, 118. 



40 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

tend over all. This implies that the Father's will 
shall be done everywhere and by all. This second 
half of the second petition was omitted by Luke, 
because it is really implied in the first half. For 
how could the kingdom of God come, unless the 
King's will were done in His kingdom? Matthew 
however, not only gives it, but adds to it: ^^As in 
heaven, so on earth"; in accordance with his con- 
stant use of heaven in connection with Father and 
kingdom. This section of the prayer therefore 
teaches that the supreme ethical desire of the dis- 
ciple should be the Father's will in the Father's 
kingdom. 

This attitude of the son to the Father is illustrated 
in the logia which follow.^ They appear in 
Matthew's version of the Sermon on the Mount. 
Luke's place was more appropriate. The original 
was somewhat as follows : 

" Ask and it shall be given unto you. 
Seek and ye shall find. 
Knock and it shall be opened unto you. 
For everyone that asketh, receiveth. 
And he that seeketh, findeth; 
And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened." 

This is the attitude of the child to God His Father. 
Those in the filial relation may rely on the Father's 
love. No others can lay claim to the child's privi- 
lege. This is fortified by the beautiful illustration 
which follows: 



Lk. xi. 9-13: Mt. vii. 7-11. 



THE WILL OF THE FATHER. 41 

" What sort of a person among you is he whose son asketh ? 
If he ask a loaf, will he give him a stone? 
And if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent ? 
And if he ask an Qgg, will he give him a scorpion? 
If therefore ye, being evil, know how to give, to your children. 
Much more will the Father give to those that ask Him." ^ 

About the same time a woman, filled with enthu- 
siasm said unto him -r- 

" Blessed is the womb that bare thee : 
(Blessed) are the breasts that suckled thee." 

Jesus replied: 

" Blessed are they that hear the word of God : 
(Blessed are they) that keep (His will)."^ 

Hearing the word of God, keeping, observing, doing 
His will, is what constitutes true happiness for man. 

The Gospel of John agrees with the Synoptists in 
this teaching of Jesus, that the Will of the Father is 
his supreme norm. In the Jerusalem ministry the 
same conception appears as in the Galilean ministry 
of Mark and Matthew, and the Perean ministry of 
Luke. 

At the feast of Pentecost* Jesus said: ^'I seek not 
mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me." 

1 Tlie first clause I venture to restore conjecturally and provision- 
ally. It is of great difficulty in both evangelists, due probably to an 
obscure original. The fourth line is given by Luke alone, but is so 
graphic that it is probably original. Luke substitutes for " good 
things " of Matthew, the " Holy Spirit." This was not original. 
It is quite true as an interpretation, although it takes the sentence 
out of its original reference to bodily needs. Probably the original 
left the object understood, but not expressed. 

2 Lk. xi. 27-28. 

3 These couplets have been condensed into prose sentences. 
« Jn. V. 30. 



42 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

The will of the Son is entirely subordinated to and 
merged in the Will of the Father. The Father sent 
him, and his mission is to do the will of the Father, 
and this is what he seeks above all to do. 

At the feast of Tabernacles Jesus said: *'If any 
man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the 
teaching, whether it be of God, or I speak from 
myself. ' '^ The teaching of Jesus is not, as he says in 
the previous verse, his own personal teaching which 
he gives on his own original authority, but the teach- 
ing of the Father who sent him with the teaching. 
Therefore those who really have the will to do the 
Will of the Father should receive the teaching, not 
simply as the teacher's teaching, but as the Father's 
teaching. There need be no doubt, because the will- 
ingness to do the Will of the Father opens the eyes 
of the understanding, so as to see and know whether 
the teaching is the Father 's or not. Jesus here rep- 
resents that there is an ethical relation in his teaching 
between knowing and doing. It is not always, first 
knowing and then doing ; but in fact doing often pre- 
cedes knowing. The knowledge of a higher teaching 
depends upon the practice of a lower. There can be 
no great advance in Christian knowledge beyond 
Christian practice ; for the very reason that Christian 
knowledge contains all important ethical substance 
and relations. 

At the feast of Dedication Jesus said: 

" I do always the things that are pleasing to Him."" 



iJn. vii. 17. 2 jn. viii. 29. 



THE WILL OF THE FATHER. 43 

Those things that please Him are parallel with His 
Will. This reminds us of the words of the the- 
ophany to Jesus, the Son, in whom the Father was 
well pleased. The Father is always well pleased 
with the Son, because the Son always does the things 
which please the Father. 

It is in accordance with these words of Jesus as 
to his own motives, purposes and doings, that he 
should claim to be sinless. He says: ^^ Which of 
you convicteth me of sin? If I say the truth, why 
do ye not believe me 1 He that is of God, heareth the 
words of God : For this cause ye hear them not, be- 
cause ye are not of God. ' '^ 

Jesus was speaking to them words of God, the 
truth from God. If they were disciples of God, as 
they ought to have been, under the teaching of the 
Old Testament, they would recognize the words of 
God in the teaching of Jesus. Familiarity with the 
words of God enables one to recognize other such 
words wherever one is found, and from whom so 
ever they come. When such a word is not recog- 
nized, it gives evidence of lack of familiarity with 
God's words and with God Himself. 

Again Jesus said: ^^I know Him and keep His 
word. "2 Keeping His word is, as we have seen in 
the Synoptists, a parallel idea to doing His Will. 

On Jesus' journey through Samaria to Galilee^ he 
said in connection with the coming of the Samaritans 

1 Jn. viii. 46-47. 2 j^. viii. 55. 3 Jn. iv. 34. 



44 TEE ETHICAL TEACIIIXG OF JESUS. 

to listen to him: ''My meat is to do the will of Him 
that sent me, and to accomplish His work. ' '^ 

The will of God was the meat of Jesus, that which 
he craved and laboured for more than for food. 
This is the same Deuteronomic thought that we have 
studied in connection with his temptation.^ The ac- 
complishment of the work is in accordance with the 
commission. Jesus was sent to do a work, and his 
ethical aim was to do that work in accordance with 
the Will of God. 

In his discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum 
Jesus exhorts the people to have the same hunger of 
soul. "Work not for the meat which perisheth, but 
for the meat which abideth unto eternal life, which 
the Son of Man will give unto you."-^ Jesus' meat 
was doing the AVill of God and fulfilling the work of 
God. The meat is here explained as something 
which Jesus, the Son of Man, gives unto the disciple. 
That which he gives, as we see from the context, is 
the AVill of God, and the work of God. The first 
question of the hearers is as to the work of God. 
*^TVhat must we do, that we may work the works of 
GodI" 

Jesus answers: ''This is the work of God, that 
ye believe on him whom He hath sent.''^ The first 
work is to believe in the messenger who comes from 
God to declare the Will of God. This is not the onlv 



J Probably this was a logion, the second line of the original begin- 
ning with " My drink is." 

2Mt. iv. 4. 3 Jn. vi. 27. * In. vi. 28-.'^9. 



TEE ^VILL OF THE FATHER. 45 

work of God, or the chief work of God, but the first 
work of God in the order of the works when Jesns 
the Messiah stands before them. As he said: ''I 
am come down from lieaven, not to do mine own will, 
but the will of Him that sent me." He then states 
the Will of the Father. ^'This is the will of Him 
that sent me, that of all that which He hath given me 
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the 
last day. For this is the Will of my Father, that 
every one that beholdeth the Son and believeth on 
him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him 
up at the last day. "^ 

The disciple is to believe on Jesus as the one sent 
by God to declare His Will and His works, and then 
make that Will and those works his meat, as Jesus 
did; and as an inevitable consequence he will have 
eternal life and a part in the resurrection. 

The theophanic voice, at the transfiguration, again 
recognized Jesus: ''This is My beloved Son: hear 
ye him."- This sets the seal of the divine approval 
to the ministry of Jesus which was nearing its com- 
pletion. 

Jesus, in his agony in Gethsemane, submits him- 
self to the Will of the Father in his prayer. 
'^ Father, all things are possible unto Thee: remove 
this cm~) from me : howbeit not what I will, but what 



1 Jn. vi. 3S-40. 

2 ]\Ik. ix. 7: Lk. ix. 35, my '•■ chosen " is a variation of translation 
"beloved," 'Sit. xvii. 5 agrees with Luke in this phrase, but adds 
'■ in whom I am well pleased/"' which may have been taken from the^ 
words of the previous theophany at the Baptism. 



46 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

Thou wilt.'^^ Matthew and Luke depend on Mark 
for this narrative and give essentially the same 
thing.^ In his supreme hour Jesus submits himself 
to the Will of the Father, even to the shameful death 
of the cross. 

In his last prayer before departing from this earth 
to the Father, Jesus said: ^'I glorified Thee on the 
earth, having accomplished the work which Thou 
hast given me to do."^ From the beginning to the 
end of his life, Jesus had done the Will of the Father. 
He had finally accomplished all that Will in his work 
on earth, and he had taught his disciples to do the 
same. 



1 Mk. xiv. 36. 2 Mt. xxvi. 39 ; Lk. xxii. 42. » Jn. xvii. 4. 



IV, 

The Word of Jesus. 

Immediately after his inauguration by baptism 
with the divine Spirit, and his victory over the 
temptations of the devil, Jesus began to gather dis- 
ciples. In the valley of the Jordan, two of the dis- 
ciples of John the Baptist followed him, Andrew and 
probably John. On the following day he called 
Philip to follow him.^ These became his disciples 
and went with him to Cana of Galilee. Then they 
left him for a season. Soon afterwards he went to 
the shore of the Sea of Galilee and finding the four 
fishermen, Andrew, Simon, James and John, he calls 
them to abandon their fishing and become fishers of 
men.2 These go with him to Capernaum the home 
of Simon and Andrew.^ Soon afterwards he called 
Matthew, the publican, who abandoned all and fol- 
lowed him after a farewell feast given to his friends.^ 
It is evident that these all recognized Jesus as a 
prophet of God; and their prompt obedience to his 
call to the abandonment of property and family and 
all that they held dear, showed that they regarded 
the Word of Jesus as the rule of their life. These six 
were disciples in a special sense. But there were 
doubtless many others who were disciples in a more 

» Jn. i. 35-43. 2 Mk. i. 16-20. ^Mk. i. 21-30. * Mk. ii. 13-17. 

47 



48 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

general sense. For during this time tie went about 
Galilee preaching in the synagogues of the different 
cities and working miracles. 

Soon after the call of Matthew Jesus^ goes down 
with his special disciples into the valley of the Jor- 
dan and preaches repentance and baptism, alongside 
of John the Baptist, and is so successful, winning 
more disciples than the Baptist, that the Pharisees 
are stirred up against him and he prudently retires 
into Galilee.^ 

Jesus now begins his ministry in Galilee with 
vigour. The Baptist is about this time cast into 
prison, and all eyes are turned to Jesus. He 
preaches repentance in view of the nearness of the 
kingdom of God. He makes a second tour in Galilee 
and is followed by multitudes, who listen, to his 
teaching and witness his miracles. His disciples 
have become a great multitude and he now selects 
Twelve of them to be with him constantly and assist 
him in his work.^ We thus have two classes of dis- 
ciples, the disciples in general and the Twelve in 
particular. All these disciples, as disciples, heard 
his words and were obligated to obey them. The 
Twelve were called to do more than this, namely to 
follow him in a special ministry. The Twelve were 
installed in their office by a discourse called the 
Sermon on the Mount, which gives instruction in part 
applicable to them in particular, in part to all the 



1 New Light on the Life of Jesus, p. 13. 2 jn. Hi. 22-iv. 3. 
9Mk. iii. 13-19; Lk. vi. 12-19. 



THE WORD OF JESUS. 49 

disciples, giving especially the great ethical princi- 
ples of the kingdom of God. 

After several months of special training in his 
company, Jesus sends forth the Twelve in pairs to 
carry on his work in Galilee, while he himself departs 
on his mission to Perea and Jerusalem.^ On this 
occasion he gives them a discourse of solemn charge 
and commission. In the meanwhile many other dis- 
ciples have been called to special service as his com- 
panions. Out of these he selects Seventy to go be- 
fore him and prepare his way in Perea and Judea.^ 
We thus have three groups of disciples distinguished. 
Jesus continues to make disciples and gains many 
others by the preaching of the Twelve and the 
Seventy. He also continues to call others to follow 
him in the special ministry. Are we to suppose that 
these were being prepared for a third group of min- 
isters, or were they to be merged in the group of the 
Seventy! We have no evidence in the Gospels to 
decide this question. The Book of Acts tells us that 
one hundred and twenty brethren were assembled in 
Jerusalem for the selection of the successor of 
Judas,^ and St. Paul tells us that Jesus after his 
resurrection appeared to above five hundred breth- 
ren.^ Are we to suppose that these brethren were 
disciples in general, or selected disciples who had the 
special call ? However this may be, it is evident that 
Jesus had many hundreds of disciples, and that he 

1 New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 40 sq. 

2 New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 32 sq. 

5 Acts i. 15-26. * 1 Cor. xv. 6. 

4 



50 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

had selected from these, first the Twelve, then the 
Seventy, then an indefinite number of others, with 
the special call to abandon all things and follow 
him. 

The disciples of Jesus, of all groups, recognized 
him as a teacher come from God, and as a prophet 
with the divine word upon his lips. His Word was 
the divine word, and all faithful disciples heard and 
obeyed it. Jesus' Word indeed was with such in- 
trinsic authority that it compelled obedience or rejec- 
tion.^ As Jesus himself said, it had judicial power 
in it wherever it was proclaimed.^ 

At the close of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus 
gives a logion of warning, and a parable contrasting 
those who hear and do, with those who hear but do 
not, that is, the faithful with the unfaithful disciples. 
The logion of warning is : 

" Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
Shall enter into the kingdom of God; 
But he that doeth the will of my Father." ' 

Luke has it in the form of personal address, which 
is more suitable to the original discourse : 

" Why call ye me. Lord, Lord, 
And do not the things which I say ?" * 

Doing the teachings of Jesus is an ethical norm, 
corresponding with that of following him. This is 

1 Mt. vii. 29. 2 Jn. xii. 48. 

3 Mt. vii. 21, " which is in heaven " is an explanatory addition 
of Matthew; and "heaven" is a substitute for "God." 
* Lk. vi. 46. 



THE WORD OP JESUS. 51 

not satisfied by merely recognizing him as sovereign 
Lord. Doing is the determinative factor and not 
merely professing. 

Matthew modifies the original couplet of Jesns, in 
order to make it correspond with the form of the 
logion which he adds^ from another occasion. This 
Gospel also substitutes the Will of the Father for the 
Word of Jesus, from the consciousness that they are 
really the same. But the originality of the term 
^'Word'^ of Jesus is verified by the parable which 
follows : 

"I. Every one which heareth these words of mine and doeth 
them, 
Shall be likened unto a wise man. 
Which built his house upon the rock: 
And the rain descended, and the floods came. 
And the winds blew, and beat upon that house; 
And it fell not; for it was founded upon the rock. 

II. But every one which heareth these words of mine and doeth 
them not, 
Shall be likened unto a foolish man, 
Which built his house upon the sand: 
And the rain descended, and the floods came. 
And the winds blew, and smote upon that house; 
And it fell ; and great was the fall thereof." ^ 

At the feast of Dedication Jesus makes his Word 
the test of life and death : ^'Verily, verily, I say unto 
you, he that heareth my Word and believeth him that 
sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judg- 



1 Mt. vii. 22-23 ; Lk. xiii. 25-27. 

2 Mt. vii. 24-27 ; Lk. vi. 47-49. See General Introduction to the 
Study of Holy Scripture, p. 404. 



52 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

ment, but hath passed out of death into life. ' '^ This 
in the form of a Hebrew logion would be : 

"He that heareth my Word, hath eternal life; 
He that believeth on Him that sent me, cometh not into 
judgment." 

Hearing the Word of Jesus is here connected with 
believing on the Father that sent him. His words 
are the Father's words which he has been sent to 
teach, requiring faith. They are life-giving words 
which enable those who hear them, in the pregnant 
sense of obedience to them, to sustain the tests of 
judgment. This is explained by the final author of 
the Gospel. ^'The hour cometh, in which all that 
are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come 
forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrec- 
tion of life; and they that have done ill, unto the 
resurrection of judgment. ''^ At the judgment, those 
who hear the words of Jesus are those who have done 
good ; that is, they have heard in the pregnant sense, 
and have followed his words fully in the good deeds 
these words teach, as norms of life and conduct. 
The hearing results, according to the words of Jesus, 
in having eternal life and freedom from judgment. 
That is explained by the second hand, as having the 
resurrection to approval and accordingly life, as 
opposed to the evil doers, who have the resurrection 
to condemnation. 

In the parable of the Sower,^ Jesus is the sower of 
the good seed in the minds of the disciples. This 

1 Jn. V. 24. 2 jn. v. 28-29. 3 Mk. iv. 1-20. 



THE WORD OF JESUS. 5S 

seed is his Word. The everlasting future depends 
upon whether this word grows to maturity and bears 
fruit, and upon the quantity of the harvest. Accord- 
ingly Jesus gives the logion of warning, only one 
line of which has been preserved : 

" Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." ^ 

Probably the other line was, as suggested by 
Matthew: Who hath eyes to see, let him see. For 
Matthew adds in this connection the supplementary : 

" Blessed are your eyes, for they see ; 
And (blessed are) your ears, for they hear. 
(For verily I say unto you), 
Many prophets and righteous men desired 
To see the things which ye see, and saw them not ; 
And to hear the things which ye hear, and heard them not." ^ 

When Jesus commissioned the Twelve for their 
mission in Galilee, he gave them his Word to teach 
and preach, and made them his representatives, so 
that their word was his Word and it had the same 
judicial power.^ He said to them: 

"And whatever house shall not receive you, 
And whoever shall not hear your words. 
As ye go forth out of that city. 
Shake off the dust from your feet 
Eor a testimony against them." * 

The same word essentially is given in the Com- 

1 Mk. iv. 9 ; Mt. xiii. 9, 43 ; Lk. viii. 8. 
2Mt. xiii. 16-17. 

' Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 182 sq. 
*Mt. X. 14; Mk. vi. 11; Lk. ix. 5. 
of the three versions. 



54 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

mission of the Seventy.^ To this a logion is added 
which is difficult to place. 

"He that heareth you, heareth me; 
He that rejecteth you, rejecteth me; 
He that receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me; 
He that rejecteth me, rejecteth Him that sent me." ^ 

This logion is given in a condensed form in John^ in 
connection with the discourse at the Lord's Supper. 

The ethical lesson of the story of Martha and Mary 
seems to come under the general idea of this chap- 
ter.^ The event was at Bethany near Jerusalem at 
the feast of Tabernacles. Jesus said to Martha: 
^'Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many 
things : there is need of few. For Mary hath chosen 
the good part, which shall not be taken away from 
her. "5 

There is a contrast between the active Martha, who, 
as mistress of the house, was over anxious and over 
troubled about the entertainment of her guest, and 
the contemplative Mary, who was so absorbed in the 
teachings of Jesus that she had forgotten all about 
her household duties. Mary had chosen the supreme 
good, the ethical norm, the teachings of Jesus, and 
she would not be called away from that to active em- 
ployment about other things, however important they 
might be under other circumstances. Martha is re- 
proved for her troubling herself about many things, 

»Lk. X. 10-11. 2Lk. X. 10; Mt. X. 40. 

3Jn. xiii. 20. < Lk. x. 38-42. 

^QopvpdCij is dwa^-Aey. It is possible therefore that uEpijuvog is an 
explanatory addition. 



TEE WORD OF JESUS. 55 

when only few things were needed. Her over-occu- 
pation in caring for the needs of the body, even in 
the laudable grace of hospitality, was really a failure 
to embrace the unique privilege of absorbing the 
teaching of Jesus. It is often said that if Martha 
had not been troubled about these many things, Jesus 
would have fallen short in his entertainment. But 
it is overlooked that Jesus would not be entertained 
with many things but with few.^ If Martha had 
been content with the few, she would not have found 
fault with Mary and might have had time to attend 
to Jesus' teaching herself. Mary represents in all 
ages the consecrated woman who has devoted herself 
to Christ and his kingdom; the holy virgins who 
have been, through the Christian centuries, among 
the most potent influences for the extension, as well 
as for the ethical advance of the kingdom of God. 

At the feast of Dedication Jesus said to the Phari- 
sees : ^ ^ If ye were blind, ye would have no sin : but 
now ye say ^we see'; your sin remaineth. ' '^ 

They, with open eyes, rejected the Word of Jesus ; 
and therefore their wilful rejection of his Word was 
the culmination of that sin for which they would be 
condemned in the day of judgment. 

iThe substitution of "one" (Tisch, A.V., R.V.), and the addi- 
tion of "one" (W. H. ), are due to the interpretation that this 
refers to the choice of Mary. But there is really a reference to the 
few things needed for the entertainment of Jesus over against the 
many things that Martha was troubled about. 

2 Jn. ix. 41. See p. 170. '^ew Light on the Life of Jesus, p. 155, 
for the historic occasion of these words. 



56 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

In his disconrse in the synagogue of Capernaum 
Jesus said: ^'The words that I have spoken unto 
you are spirit, and are life."^ 

When Simon as the representative of the Twelve 
recognized Jesus as the Messiah, he said, *^Lord, to 
whom shall we go I Thou hast the words of eternal 
life/ '2 

In his last discourse in the temple, in Passion 
Week, Jesus said:^ *^He that believeth on me, be- 
lieveth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he 
that beholdeth me, beholdeth him that sent me. I 
am come a light into the world, that whosoever be- 
lieveth on me may not abide in the darkness. And 
if any man hear my sayings and keep them not, I 
judge him not ; for I came not to judge the world, but 
to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and re- 
ceiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him; 
the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the 
last day. For I spake not from myself, but the 
Father which sent me, he hath given me a command- 
ment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 
And I know that his commandment is life eternal: 
the things therefore which I speak, even as the 
Father hath said unto me, so I speak.'' 

Hearing the sayings of Jesus and keeping them, is 



^ Jn. vi. 63. See New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 95-6 for the 
historic occasion. 

2 Jn, vi. 68. These words supplement those of the recognition, Mk. 
viii. 27-30. But there is no reason to doubt their accuracy. See 
New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 47-48. 

3 Jn. xii. 44-50. 



TEE WORD OF JE8U8. 57 

the essential thing. Alongside of it is believing in 
him as the light of the world. The sayings of Jesus 
are those which the Father sent him to say : they are 
the Father's commands, and so hearing and keeping 
them wins eternal life from the Father. By them 
men will be judged. The words of Jesus will be the 
test by which men will be accepted, or condemned. 
The Law of the Old Testament has passed out of 
view. The commandments of God through Jesus 
have taken its place in this Gospel. 

In his discourse to his disciples, probably after his 
resurrection, Jesus said with regard to his perse- 
cutors :^ ' ' Remember the word that I said unto you, 
a servant is not greater than his lord.^ If they perse- 
cuted me, they will also persecute you ; if they kept 
my word, they will keep yours also. But all these 
things will they do unto you for my name's sake,^ be- 
cause they know not Him that sent me. If I had not 
come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: 
but now they have no excuse for their sin. He that 
hateth me, hateth my Father also. If I had not done 
among them the works which none other did, they 
had not had sin; but now have they both seen and 
hated both me and my Father. ' '^ 

Jesus spoke to them words from God, and accom- 
panied these words with works sufficient to convince 
them. They had no excuse for their refusal to accept 

1 New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 120 sq. 

2 See Jn. xiii. 16; Mt. x. 24; Lk. vi. 40. 
3Mt. X. 22; xxiv. 9; Mk. xiii. 13; Lk. xxi. 17. 
* Jn. XV. 20-24. 



58 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

him; still less for rejecting him and hating him. In 

hating him they hated also the Father who sent him* 

In his final commission of the apostolic ministry 

Jesus again makes his words the test words. He 

said ;^ 

" All authority hath been given unto me. 

Go ye therefore into all the earth. 
And make disciples of all nations, 
Baptize them into my name. 
And teach them to keep my commands. 
And I am with you until the End." ^ 

This is condensed in the addition to Mark:^ **Go 
ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the 
whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized 
will be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be con- 
demned. ' ' 

In his final prayer for his disciples^ Jesus said: 
^ ' The words which Thou gavest me I have given unto 
them; and they received them, and knew of a truth 
that I came forth from Thee, and they believed that 
Thou didst send me. ... I have given them Thy 
word. ... I pray . . . for them also that shall be- 
lieve on me through their word.'' 

Thus the Word of Jesus has the same normative 
authority as the Will of the Father. It is indeed the 
last and highest expression of the Will of the ^Father. 

1 Mt. xxviii. 18-20. This in my opinion was the original form of 
this logion. The trinitarian Baptismal formula was later than the 
usage of the books of Acts, and it makes the line too long for the 
measures. For a detailed study of this commission, see Article I., 
The Apostolic Commission, in Studies in Honor of B. L. Oildersleeve, 
p. 14. 

2Mk. xvi. 15-lG, see p. 70. aj^. xvii. 8-20, see p. 81. 



The Kingdom of God. 

The kingdom of God is so closely associated with 
the Will of God that they are combined in the same 
petition of the Lord's prayer. 

" Father, ^hy kingdom come. Thy will be done." ^ 

The Will of God is accomplished in the kingdom 
of God. Jesus as the Messiah came to do the Will of 
the Father and to establish His kingdom among men. 
The theme of his preaching when he went into Galilee 
was : ^ ' The kingdom of God is at hand. ' '^ This was 
essentially his Gospel. The kingdom was one of 
the most frequent subjects of his teaching. This 
term is used by all the Gospels save Matthew which 
uses *^ kingdom of heaven." This latter is however 
a peculiarity of Matthew, resembling the use of 
''heavenly" with " Father. "^ After the manner of 
the Jews of the time, this gospel uses heaven for God. 
When Jesus commissioned the Twelve he gave them 
the same message,^ and subsequently the Seventy 
also.^ 

The kingdom of God is the kingdom of the Old 
Testament in institution and in prophecy.^ God was 
the king of that kingdom. The reigning king of the 

iMt. vi. 10; Lk. xi. 2. 2Mk. i. 15; Mt. iv. 17. 

^Messiah of the Gospels, p. 79. ■« Mk. vi. 12; Mt. ix. 7; Lk. ix. 2. 
6 Lk. X. 9. 6 Messianic Prophecy, pp. 492 sg. 

59 



60 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

dynasty of David was the son of God and the divine 
representative. The advent of the kingdom involved 
the advent of God Himself, and also the advent of the 
Messianic king. Jesns never speaks of the kingdom 
of the Messiah. His Messiahship remains in the 
background of his teaching until near the close of his 
ministry. 

Jesus ' teaching as to the kingdom is usually veiled 
in parables, which can be understood only by his dis- 
ciples, and by these only after he has given them the 
key in esoteric instruction. This kind of teaching 
began in his discourse by the seaside in the second 
stage of his Galilean ministry. Mark gives three par- 
ables of the kingdom here; Luke but one; Matthew 
as many as eight.^ Three only really belong here, 
and possibly not all of these, namely, the parable of 
the Sower, common to all with its interpretation ; the 
parable of the Tares, peculiar to Matthew with its 
interpretation; the parable of the Seed growing 
secretly, peculiar to Mark, but without interpretation. 
The other parables have been added for topical rea- 
sons as parables of the kingdom, but really they pre- 
sent the kingdom from different points of view. The 
common feature of the three parables is the good 
seed, sown by Jesus. This good seed is the 
word of Jesus which is planted by his teaching 
in the minds of his hearers. These minds are, in the 
parable of the Sower, like different kinds of soil. 
They are described as the superficial, the obdurate, 

iMk. iv. 1-34; Mt. xiii. 1-53; Lk. viii. 4-18. 



TEE KINGDOM OF GOD. 61 

the preoccupied, in whom the good seed of the word 
remains nnfrnitfiiL Only the open-minded and 
attentive are fruitful and some of these are exceed- 
ingly fruitful. It is evident from this parable that 
Jesus conceives of the kingdom of God as established 
in the minds of men by the word which he taught, 
and that it was by hearing and doing his word that 
the kingdom grew among men. 

The parable of the Seed growing secretly takes up 
the fruitful seed of the parable of the Sower, and 
may thus be regarded as supplementary thereto. It 
graphically describes the growth of the good seed in 
successive stages, the sowing of the seed, the appear- 
ing of the tender blade in the ground, the growth of 
the ear, and last of all the harvest. It represents 
the coming as a gradual growth through the develop- 
ment of the word of Jesus in the mind, and in a fruit- 
ful life. 

The parable of the Tares may also be regarded as 
supplementary^, for it takes up the growth of the good 
seed in the midst of evil seed. In the parable of the 
Sower there are thorns, here there are tares which 
so greatly resemble the wheat that they cannot be dis- 
tinguished until the ear begins to form into fruit; 
when it is too late to remove them. The tares are 
plants of the devil. It was not said in the parable of 
the Sower that the thorns came from the devil ; but it 
was suggested, because his activity was mentioned 
in connection with the removal of the good seed from 
the minds of the superficial. 



62 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

The three parables deal with essentially the same 
thenie, the Word of Jesus in the mind and life of 
men. The parable of the Sower lays stress on the 
origin of the kingdom, the parable of the Seed grow- 
ing secretly npon its gradual growth, the parable of 
the tares upon its consummation. Thus we have the 
kingdom as established by Jesus, the kingdom in its 
growth in the world, and the kingdom in its consum- 
mation. Jesus uses the kingdom in these three dif- 
ferent phases and it is not always easy to distinguish 
them.^ 

1. The kingdom as established by Jesus in the 
parable of the Sower, was by his preaching the Word 
of God. This is connected with a call to repentance 
and to faith in Jesus and his Word. Jesus calls men 
to enter his kingdom. The parable of the Marriage 
feast^ represents the calls going forth to those who 
would naturally be regarded as the appropriate 
guests. When these excuse themselves, the poor 
and the sick are invited, and become the guests. 
These are doubtless the publicans and sinners. So 
Jesus said in his Woes upon the Pharisees that the 
Pharisees shut the kingdom against men, ''for ye 
enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that 
are entering in, to enter. "^ 

So in the parable of the Two Sons,^ the one who 
promised to go and did not is the Pharisee, the other 
who refused to go, and subsequently repented and 

1 Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 316 sq. ^Lk. xiv. 15-24 ; Mt. xxii. 1-10. 
» Mt. xxiii. 13. * Mt. xxi. 28-32. 



THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 63 

went, represents the publicans and harlots, who enter 
the kingdom of God before the Pharisees, for they 
repent and believe. 

In the parable of the King's Son,^ Jesus represents 
that the vineyard of God, the kingdom of God, which 
the Pharisees held in trust, would be taken away 
from them, because of their rejection and killing of 
the King's Son, and given to others. That is, the 
kingdom of God of the Old Testament was to pass 
out of the hands of the Pharisees into the hands of 
those who accepted the King's Son, namely the dis- 
ciples of Jesus. 

So Jesus said to Nicodemus that birth from heaven 
by the water and the Spirit was necessary in order 
to see the kingdom and enter into it.^ This evidently 
refers to baptism by the Spirit and by water; the 
external ceremony representing and sealing the 
internal change. The baptism by the Spirit here 
is evidently the baptism which Jesus has the author- 
ity to impart, and which in fact he first imparted on 
the day of Pentecost when he established his king- 
dom among men. So Jesus said to Pilate at the in- 
quiry in the Praetorium just before his crucifixion: 
^^My kingdom is not of this world," '^I am a king. 
To this end have I been born, and to this end am I 
come into the world, that I should bear witness unto 
the truth. ' '^ Thus his kingdom is a kingdom which 
he established by being witness to the truth; it is a 

iMt. xxi. 33-46; Mk. xii. 1-12; Lk. xx. 9-19. 
2 Jn. iii. 3-7. ^Jn. xviii. 33-38. 



64 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JE8US. 

kingdom of truth. It is heavenly in its origin and 
not earthly. It is in accordance with this conception 
that Jesns, in his Perean ministry, said to the Phari- 
sees who inquired when the kingdom of God should 
come: ^^The kingdom of God cometh not with ob- 
servation : neither shall they say, Lo, here ! or, There ! 
for lo, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. ' '^ 
The kingdom of God was present to the Pharisees in 
the king Jesus whom they did not recognize; in his 
disciples whom he had gathered by his teaching and 
preaching, and whom the Pharisees did not estimate. 
It was yet in an unorganized condition. It was in 
the stage of planting. The seed was still beneath the 
surface of the ground. The word was in the minds 
of the disciples. It had not yet had time to sprout 
forth even in the blade. 

2. The kingdom of God, according to the preaching 
and the prediction of Jesus, was near at hand. Jesus 
said to his disciples in a logion, which is now out of 
place, but doubtless was given toward the close of his 
ministry : 

" There be some of them that stand here, 
Who shall in no wise taste of death, 
Till they see the kingdom of God." ^ 

This implies that during the generation then upon 
the stage of history the kingdom of God would be 
established. It is in accord with this that Jesus said 
in another logion which also seems out of place : 

" This generation shall not pass away 
Till all things be accomplished." " 
1 Lk. xvii. 20-21. 2 Mk. ix. 1 ; Mt. xvi. 28; Lk. ix. 27. 

3Mk. xiii. 30; Mt. xxiv. 34; Lk. xxi. 32. 



THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 65 

At the institution of the Lord's Supper Jesus said: 

" I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, 
Till that day when I drink it new in the kingdom (of God) ." ^ 

This is a prediction that ere another supper the king- 
dom of God would be established. 

When Simon, as the spokesman of the Twelve, 
recognized Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus named him 
Peter and made him the rock of his house and the 
porter of his kingdom. This certainly implied that 
St. Peter would in his ministry be the chief means of 
establishing the kingdom and opening its doors to 
men.2 In his farewell discourse^ he instructed his 
disciples to remain in Jerusalem until they were en- 
dowed with the power of the Spirit. 

The advent of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost 
was thus the establishment of the kingdom in an 
organic form, visible and tangible. The tender blade 
had appeared. The kingdom now had its period of 
growth in the world as the parable of the Seed grow- 
ing secretly and the parable of the Tares show ; the 
one gives its normal growth, the other its growth in 
the midst of conflict with evil. This also appears in 
other parables probably coming from the Perean 
ministry. The parable of the Grain of Mustard 
Seed^ contrasts the smallness of the seed time with 
the greatness of the consummation. The parable of 
the Leaven^ represents the growth of the kingdom as 
a process of leavening. 

1 Mk. xiv. 25. 2 Mt. xvi. 17-19. 3 Lk. xxiv. 49. 

<Mk. iv. 30-32; Mt. xiii. 21-32; Lk. xiii. 18-19. 
5Mt. xiii. 33; Lk. xiii. 20-21. 
5 



66 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

A number of parables, especially late in Jesus' 
ministry, represent the kingdom as composed of 
various kinds of servants. The parable of Labour- 
ers in the vineyard^ represents the householder sum- 
moning his labourers at different times in accordance 
with his purpose and rewarding them according to 
his good will. The parable of the Pounds,^ which 
is only another version of the parable of the Talents,^ 
represents that the king during his absence gave his 
servants trusts of various values. "When he re- 
turns he rewards those that use their trusts and 
punishes those who do not use them. In the parable 
of the Virgins,^ he teaches that the servants should 
have their loins girded and their lamps burning to 
welcome their lord on his return from the marriage 
feast. In several parables^ Jesus urges the servants 
to be faithful and watchful. 

3. The consummation of the kingdom appears in 
many of the passages already considered, as the time 
of harvest and the time of reward and punishment, 
when Jesus comes in his second Advent. The par- 
able of the Drag-net represents this judgment as the 
separation of good and bad fishes after they have 
been landed on the shore.^ In a beautiful logion, the 
king separates between the sheep and the goats, 
assigns his rewards and punishments in accordance 
with works."^ It is this kingdom of judgment which 
is to be feared above all by the wicked, and sought 

» Mt. XX. 1-15. 2 Lk. xix. 11-28. ^ Mt. xxv. 14 sq. 

<Mt. xxv. 1-13; Lk. xii. 35-36. 

6Mk. xiii. 34-37: Mt. xxiv. 42-51; Lk. xii. 37-48. 

6 Mt. xiii. 47-50. ^Mt. xxv. 31-4G. See p. 203, 204. 



THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 67 

above all by the righteous. To the righteous it is 
the supreme object of pursuit. They seek first the 
kingdom of God.^ It is the Father's good pleasure 
to give it to the little flock.^ The parables of the 
Treasure hid in the field^ and of the Merchant seek- 
ing choice pearls,^ represent the kingdom as worth 
all things else, and requiring the parting with all 
things in order to obtain it. So Jesus pronounces his 
disciples who have become voluntarily poor, as 
blessed, because theirs is the kingdom.^ And he tells 
the Twelve that inasmuch as they have forsaken all, 
he appointed them the kingdom, and that they should 
sit at the royal table and share in his government of 
the kingdom.^ Those that trusted in their riches on 
the other hand would find it exceedingly hard to 
enter into the kingdom at all."^ 

It is evident from Jesus' teaching as to the king- 
dom of God that it is essentially ethical in character. 
Jesus himself teaches the word which those in the 
kingdom are to hear and obey. He assigns the tasks 
which are to be faithfully fulfilled. He calls to a 
service of love which has exceeding great rewards. 
The kingdom can be entered only by a moral change 
through repentance and faith. Those who enter it 
can only grow in it by fidelity and love. No one can 
enter the kingdom of glory who has not been 
approved by the judgment of Jesus as worthy 
through works of love. 



1 Mt. vi. 33 J Lk. xii. 31. 2Lk. xii. 32. 

3 Mt. xiii. 44. * Mt. xiii. 45-46. 

6 Mt. V. 3. 6 Lk. xxii. 28-30; Mt. xix. 28. 

'Mk. X. 23-27; Mt. xix. 23-26; Lk. xviii. 24-27. 



VI. 

Repentance and Faith. 

Jesus in his preaching attached repentance to the 
kingdom, because it is repentance which alone can 
gain admission to the kingdom. Eepentance, in the 
teaching of the Old Testament prophets, is a turning 
away from sin and a turning unto God;^ it is a re- 
turning so far as it applies to the people of God who 
have fallen away from their God into sin. Sin is 
essentially failure from the norm of duty, transgres- 
sion of Law, a turning aside from the way of right- 
eousness. The way in which sin is to be forgiven, 
covered over and obliterated, is by returning to God. 
Repentance is the great word in the teaching of John 
the Baptist. It is in Greek, a change of mind,^ that 
is in the religious and ethical sj^here, as to sin and as 
to God. Those who repent of their sins receive re- 
mission of sin and are baptized as a sign that their 
sins are washed away. Jesus accordingly preached 
repentance in order to remission of sins, and made it 
a condition of entrance into the kingdom of God. He 
also made baptism a seal of the purification and re- 
mission, as an external ceremony of entrance into the 
kingdom. 

In his Galilean ministry Jesus said to the para- 



a"ltS>, ^fxeravoia. 

68 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 



69 



lytic : ' ' Son thy sins are forgiven tliee, ' ' and then he 
healed him. It is said that he did this ^'seeing their 
faith. ' '^ Faith in this case must therefore imply re- 
pentance, and constitute its positive side of turning 
unto Christ. 

Soon afterwards, at Matthew's feast, Jesus justi- 
fies himself for eating with publicans and sinners by 
saying: ^'I came not to call the righteous, but sin- 
ners."^ Luke adds to this sentence of Jesus, ^'to re- 
pentance" which certainly was implied, although it 
could hardly have been original. 

In his ministry alongside of John the Baptist, in 
the valley of the Jordan, Jesus authorized his dis- 
ciples to baptize those who repented, just as the Bap- 
tist did f and it is altogether probable that this prac- 
tice continued during his ministry, although nothing 
more is said of it in the Gospels, except in the dis- 
course with Nicodemus,^ and in the final commission 
of the Ministry. In the discourse with Nicodemus, 
probably at the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus repre- 
sents that birth of the water and the Spirit is neces- 
sary to enter the kingdom ; that is, baptism by water 
and the divine Spirit, the internal as well as the ex- 
ternal baptism. This internal change through the 
divine Spirit, is a change of mind and of life such 
as is designated elsewhere by repentance and faith. 
In his final commission Jesus tells his disciples: 



1 :Mk. ii. 5; Mt. ix. 2; Lk. v. 30. 

2 Mk. ii. 17; Mt. ix. 13; Lk. v. 32. 

s Jn. iv. 1-2. * Jn. iii. 5. 



70 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

"All authority hath been given unto me. 
Go ye therefore into all the earth 
And make disciples of all nations. 
Baptize them into my name 
And teach them to keep my commands. 
And I am with you unto the End." ^ 

Jesus usually requires some expression of repent- 
ance and faith in those whom he heals. This often 
appears in the form of obedience to his command 
which works the cure. It would be too much to say 
however that he never works cures without repent- 
ance and faith; for there are many narratives of 
cures which do not furnish sufficient evidence of any 
such change in those who were cured. 

Jesus, either before leaving Galilee for the feast of 
Pentecost, or on his return after the feast, gives abso- 
lution to a penitent woman because of her faith and 
love.^ It will repay us to consider the passage with 
some care, for it is not without difficulty. 

A dissolute woman, wept at Jesus' feet, so that 
they were wet with her tears. Then she wiped them 
with her hair, and anointed them with ointment, 
which she had brought for the purpose. Jesus' host 
was a Pharisee, and he objected that Jesus allowed 
this disreputable woman to touch him. Jesus re- 
plies by first giving a parable, showing that a man 
will love that creditor the most, whose forgiven debt 
is the largest. This parable he applies to his host, a 
Pharisee, and this woman. The host showed no 



1 Mt. xxvili. 19-20. Cf. Mk. xvi. 15-17. See p. 58. 

2 Lk. vii. 47-50. 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 71 

great love for Jesus, because lie was not a penitent 
sinner and did not seek forgiveness. He had granted 
the hospitality of his table, but he had not treated 
Jesus as a guest of honour ; for he had not attended 
to the bathing of his feet, or the anointing of his 
head, in accordance with the custom for honoured 
guests at feasts in the time of Jesus. The woman 
however showed great love for Jesus, because she 
wept penitential tears in streams over his feet, and 
then wiped them and kissed them repeatedly; and 
she anointed them with ointment. She did it because 
she was a penitent sinner, and loved greatly the Lord 
who forgave her much. On this Jesus bases the 
principle which he now states : ' ' Her sins, which are 
many, are forgiven; for she loved much. But to 
whom little is forgiven (the same) loveth little.'' 
Then he said unto her: ^'Thy sins are forgiven.'' 
^ ^ Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace. ' '^ 

This passage is a battle ground between Protest- 
ants and Roman Catholics. The Roman Catholic in- 
terpretation is that love here precedes forgiveness, 
the Protestant that love is the evidence of forgive- 
ness already received. In the parable, love is the 
love of gratitude for sins already forgiven. In the 
application, the love of the woman is contrasted with 
the lack of love on the part of the Pharisee. The 
parallel clause: ^'But to whom little is forgiven (the 
same) loveth little '' justifies the interpretation of 
^^for she loved much" as an evidence that much for- 

1 Lk. vii. 47-50. 



72 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

giveness was already experienced. But when Jesus 
pronounced absolution after this exhibition of her 
love, in the parallel clauses, *^Thy sins are forgiven 
thee ' ' and ^ ' Thy faith hath saved thee, ' ' it seems to 
favour the Eoman Catholic opinion that her love pre- 
ceded the forgiveness and was the recipient of for- 
giveness. Jesus does not pronounce absolution until 
after the wonderful love of the woman has been 
shown by her acts. But her loving deeds were an 
evidence of her faith in Jesus. Here faith was ex- 
hibiting itself in extraordinary love, such as Christ 
himself shows and advises in his disciples. How 
could such faith and love be in the woman, unless she 
had already experienced forgiveness, before Jesus 
himself absolved her? The words of Jesus were the 
confirming words of an already existing experience. 
The passage has nothing to do with the doctrine of 
justification by faith, in the limits of the Protestant 
theology ; but with salvation by faith and forgiveness 
of sins as connected with the experience of love. 
There is a relation between love and forgiveness, but 
that relation is not defined in its chronological or 
logical order. There is indeed a love of penitence 
which may precede absolution, and a love of grati- 
tude that follows; but who shall say when the one 
passes over into the other, or when and how they 
intermingle. 

At the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem Jesus said: 
*^He that heareth my word, and believeth Him that 
sent me, hath everlasting life, and cometh not into 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 73 

judgment, but hath passed out of death into life."^ 
It is characteristic of this gospel that it uses life for 
the kingdom of God of the Synoptists. The entering 
into life is thus the same as entering the kingdom. 
It is by hearing the words of Jesus and by faith. 

On the last day of the feast of Tabernacles Jesus 
said : ^ ^ If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and 
drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture 
hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living 
water. "2 Coming to Christ with thirst of soul is 
only another form of believing in Christ. 

It was in the early Perean ministry that Jesus gave 
the Lord's Prayer.^ The two closing petitions be- 
long here. ^^And forgive us our trespasses, as we 
also have forgiven those who trespass against us; 
and bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from 
evil. ' ' The forgiveness of God is the measure of our 
forgiveness of men. This is emphasized in the sub- 
sequent logion. 

" If ye forgive men their trespasses, 
Your Father will forgive you also (your trespasses) ; 
But if ye do not forgive men their trespasses, 
Neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." * 

We are in peril from evil, and not only need for- 
giveness for the evil already experienced, but we 
need restraint from temptation and deliverance 
from evil, that we may sin no more. Repentance in- 



1 Jn. V. 24. 2jn. vii. 37-38. 

3 See pp. 39 sq. * Mk. vi, 12-15; Lk. xi. 4. 



74 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

volves both : the former the negative side, the latter 
the positive side. 

Jesus in Perea gives a solemn warning to repent.^ 
He said that the Galilaeans slain by Pilate were not 
sinners above all Galilaeans ; that those upon whom 
the tower of Siloam fell were not offenders above all 
the men that dwell in Jerusalem, but that his hearers 
shared in the common sinfulness, and therefore: 
^^ Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 
Jesus did not mean that they would perish in the 
same way, but he probably meant in similar calam- 
ities which were about to come on the Jewish people 
in Galilee and Jerusalem, unless they repented of 
their sins and did the will of God after the example 
of their Messiah. 

Not far from this time Jesus probably gave the 
three parables of Repentance.^ The parable of the 
Lost Sheep is pointed by the word : ^ ' There shall be 
joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth (more), 
than over ninety and nine righteous persons, which 
need no repentance. ' '^ The parable of the Lost Coin 
similarly has attached to it the lesson: ^^ There is 
joy in the presence of the angels of God over 
one sinner that repenteth."^ The prodigal son re- 
pents and says : ' ^ I will arise and go to my father, and 
will say unto him: father, I have sinned against 
heaven, and in thy sight, I am no more worthy to be 
called thy son."^ 



1 Lk. xiii. 1-5. « Lk. xv. ^ Lk. xv. 

<Lk. XV. 10. 5Lk. XV. 18-19; cf. v. 21. 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 75 

At tlie feast of Dedication in Jerusalem Jesus said 
to the Jews: ^^ Except ye believe that I am (he), 
ye shall die in your sins."^ He said to the one 
healed of his blindness : ^ ' ^ Dost thou believe on the 
Son of Godr He answered and said: ^And who is 
he, Lord? that I may believe on himT Jesus said 
unto him : ' Thou hast both seen him, and he it is that 
speaketh with thee.' And he said, ^Lord, I be- 
lieve. ' ' '2 In his allegory of the Good Shepherd 
Jesus said : ^ ' I am the door : by me if any man enter 
in, he shall be saved.'' ^^Ye believe not, because ye 
are not of my sheep. "^ To Martha, Jesus said: **I 
am the resurrection, and the life : he that believeth on 
me, though he die, yet shall he live : And whosoever 
liveth and believeth on me shall never die."^ She 
said: ^^I have believed that thou art the Messiah, 
the Son of God, he that cometh into the world. ' '^ 

On his journey northward through Samaria, many 
Samaritans believed on him as the Messiah after 
they had seen and heard him.^ 

Entering Nazareth he proclaimed to his townsmen 
in the synagogue that he was the Messianic prophet, 
but was rejected by them. He marvels at their un- 
belief.^ On the return of the Twelve from their Mis- 
sion Jesus said :^ 

"Woe unto thee, Chorazin! 
Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! 



1 Jn. viii. 24. 2 Jn. ix. 35-38. a Jn. x: 9, 26. 

* Jn. xi. 25-26. sjn, xi. 27. « Jn. iv. 35-42. 

7 Lk. iv. 16-30; Mt. xiii. 54-58; Mk. vi. 1-6. 
8Mt. xi. 20-24; Lk. x. 12-15. 



76 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

For if in Tyre and Sidon had been done 

The mighty works which were done in you, 

Long ago would they have repented, 

Sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 

(Howbeit I say unto you), 

It will be more tolerable in the Judgment 

For Tyre and Sidon than for you. 

And thou, Capernaum! 

Shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? 

Thou shalt be brought down unto Hades: 

For if in Sodom had been done 

The mighty works which were done in thee. 

It would have remained until this day. 

(Howbeit I say unto you),^ 

It will be more tolerable in the Judgment 

For the land of Sodom than for you." 

In the synagogue of Capernaum Jesus presents 
himself as the bread of life. In this discourse he 
said:^ ^^This is the work of God, that ye believe on 
him whom he hath sent. ' ' ^ ^ I am the bread of life : 
he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that 
believeth on me shall never thirst. " ' ' This is the will 
of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, 
and believeth on him, should have eternal life, and I 
will raise him up at the last day/' ^'He that be- 
lieveth hath eternal life. ' ' 

At Caesarea Philippi, Simon as the spokesman of 
the Twelve, said in confession: ''Thou art the 
Messiah.''^ This is given in John^ subsequent to 

^ This sentence is probably an addition of the evangelist to 
emphasize the refrain. See Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 240-241. 
» Jn. vi. 29-47. 3 Mk. viii. 27-30; Mt. xvi. 13-16; Lk. xviii. 18-21. 
*Jn. vi. 69. 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 77 

the discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum. *^We 
have believed and know that thou art the Holy One 
of God.'' 

On his last journey to Jerusalem, by way of Perea, 
Jesus gave the parable of the Pharisee and the Publi- 
can.^ The Pharisee had nothing to repent of. In 
his prayer he said : ' ' God, I thank thee that I am not 
as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, 
or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week; 
I give tithes of all that I get. ' ' The Publican said : 
*^God cover^ over me, the sinner.'' Jesus said: 
**This man went down to his house justified rather 
than the other. ' '^ Both Pharisee and Publican wor- 
shipped the same God, in the same place, in the tem- 
ple, at the same hour of prayer, the time of the morn- 
ing sacrifice. The words used by the Publican imply 
the sacrificial act. Possibly he had in mind: 

" Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name ; 
And deliver us, and cover over our sins, for Thy name's sake."* 

Each of the sacrifices covered over the sinner in 
some way; but especially the sin offering with its 
blood applied to the divine altar covered over the 
guilt which defiled it. The person thus covered over 

1 Lk. xviii. 9-14. 

2 Cf. Pss. Ixv. 4, Ixviii. 38, in the Greek Version for the same word 
l2.a.Giiea^ai=:^^2- The technical term for the covering over sins by 
the sacrifice of the sin offering. The translation of A.V. R.V. " be 
merciful '' is incorrect and leads the mind away from the ritual of 
the sacrifice. 

3 The logion v. 14 b, belongs elsewhere, Mt. xxiii. 12; Lk. xiv. 11. 
See p. 210. 

<Ps. Ixxix. 9. 



78 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

according to the Hebrew ritual was justified and 
accepted with God. The Publican made confession 
of sin, and a penitential prayer, and was justified in 
the temple worship in the observance of the appro- 
priate ritual. The Pharisee on the other hand 
claimed from God justification as a right. He was 
entitled to it by his scrupulous fulfilment of the Law, 
and that not only of the Ten Words, and the other 
ethical parts of the Law, but also of the ceremonial 
parts in the matters of fasting and tithing, in which 
he went beyond the written Law. Jesus intimates 
that the Pharisee was not justified. He was not 
justified in the way of covering over sins, because he 
did not confess that he was a sinner and take the 
ritual method of procuring such justification. He 
relied on his legal righteousness ; so that, if there was 
a flaw in that, he failed of justification. Jesus inti- 
mates that there was a flaw in his legal righteousness, 
and that he returned home self-deceived and deluded, 
an unjustified man. The Pharisaic legal works of 
fasting and tithing did not avail. They were not 
what God required. They were not the excesses 
which pleased him, and had merit in them. The 
Pharisees were rebuked by Jesus elsewhere, because 
of their neglect of the weightier matters of the Law, 
such as kindness and justice, for the sake of the 
merit of scrupulous obedience to the minute details 
of the ceremonial Law. This Pharisee was doubt- 
less one of that sort.^ 



» See pp. 173 sq. 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 79 

On this same journey Jesus took the little children 
in his arms and blessed them, and in connection 
therewith gave an instructive logion. This appears 
in various forms in the double report.^ It is given 
most fully in Matthew. The original was probably 
as follows: 

" Suffer little children to come unto me ; 
Forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. 

Except ye turn and become as little children, 
Ye shall in no case enter the kingdom of God. 

Whosoever shall humble himself as a little child, 
The same shall be greatest in the kingdom of God." 

At Jericho, Zaccheus, a rich publican, seeing Jesus 
on his journey, and being recognized by him, invites 
Jesus to partake of his hospitality. Jesus' accept- 
ance brought upon him the usual reproach that he 
associated with publicans and sinners. But Jesus 
had in view the salvation of this publican. He came 
to seek and to save the lost. Zaccheus was at once 
brought to repentance and salvation. His repent- 
ance showed itself in a penance of extraordinary 
restitution. He acknowledged that he had sinned as 
a publican, and he determined so far as possible to 
right all wrongs. ^'If I have wrongfully exacted 
aught of any man, I restore fourfold. '^^ 

It was probably in Perea that Jesus gave the par- 
able of the Two Sons, which however is given by 

iMk. ix. 33-37; x. 13-16; Mt. xviii. 1-5; xix. 13-15; Lk. ix. 
46-48; xviii. 15-17. 
2Lk. xix. 8. 



80 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

Matthew in the group of parables on the third day of 
Passion Week. The one of these sons, the Pharisee, 
promised to go and work in the vineyard and went 
not. The other, representing the publican and 
sinner, refused to go, but ''afterward he repented 
himself and went." Jesus said: ''The publicans 
and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before 
you. For John came unto you in the way of right- 
eousness, and ye believed him not : but the publicans 
and the harlots believed him : and ye when ye saw it, 
did not even repent yourselves afterward, that ye 
might believe him."^ 

In Passion Week in Jerusalem Jesus said in the 
temple: "While ye have the light, believe on the 
light, that ye may become sons of light." "He that 
believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that 
set me. And he that beholdeth me beholdeth him 
that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that 
whosoever believeth on me may not abide in the dark- 
ness. "^ 

In his last discourse he said to Simon: "I made 
supplication for thee that thy faith fail not: and do 
thou, when once thou hast turned again, stablish thy 
brethren."^ 

He said to Thomas : " I am the way, and the truth, 
and the life ; no one cometh unto the Father, but by 
me. "4 

He said to Philip : ' ' Believe me that I am in the 
Father and the Father in me : or else believe me for 



iMt. xx>, 28-32. 2 jn. xii. 36-46. ^Lk. xxii. 32. * Jn. xiv. 6. 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 81 

the very works' sake." '^He that believeth on 
me, the works that I do, shall he do also ; and greater 
than these shall he do, because I go nnto the 
Father. "1 

The disciples say: ^^Now know we that thou 
knowest all things, and needest not that any man 
should ask thee : by this we believe that thou comest 
forth from God. ' '^ 

In his intercessory prayer Jesus said: ^^The words 
which thou gavest me, I have given unto them; and 
they received (them) and knew of a truth that I came 
forth from Thee, and they believed that thou didst 
send me." ^^ Neither for these only do I pray, but 
for them also that believe on me through their 
word. ' '^ 

In his commission of the ministry Jesus said: 

" Whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven ; 
Whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." * 



1 Jn. xiv. 11-12. 2 jn, xvi. 30. 3 Jn. xvii. 8-20. * Jn. xx. 23. 



VII. 

The Two Ways. 

In Old Testament Ethics there are two ways, the 
way of blessing in keeping the Law ; the way of curs- 
ing in disobedience to the Law; the way of life and 
the way of death.^ So in the teaching of Jesus there 
are two ways ; the way to the kingdom of glory, the 
way of life ; and the way to Gehenna, or the way of 
death. This antithesis receives a deeper and a 
broader meaning in the teaching of Jesus in accord- 
ance with his conception of the kingdom. The king- 
dom of grace which he established in the world, may 
be entered by publicans and sinners through repent- 
ance, faith, and baptism by the divine Spirit ; but the 
kingdom of glory can be entered only after a severe 
testing by the judge, Jesus himself. Jesus, in his 
teaching, first draws this antithesis in the introduc- 
tion and conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. 

The introduction is given in a series of Beatitudes 
and Woes. The Beatitudes were probably but the 
four given in Luke. The direct address is preserved 
there, and the antithetical Woes show the form of 
Luke to be original. Besides Matthew adds several 
interpreting phrases, which are correct so far as they 
go, but which at the same time, limit and narrow the 
teachings of our Lord. 

1 See Ps. i. 

82 



THE TWO WAYS. 83 

I. 

" Blessed are ye poor ; for yours is the kingdom of God. 
Blessed are ye that hunger; for ye shall be filled. 
Blessed are ye that weep; for ye shall laugh. 
Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you; 
For in the same manner did their fathers unto the prophets. 

n. 

Woe unto you rich ! for ye have received consolation. 

Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. 

Woe unto you that laugh! for ye shall mourn. 

Woe unto you when men speak well of you ! 

For in the same manner did their fathers to the false prophets." 

These Beatitudes set forth the character of those 
whom Jesus regards as worthy of the kingdom of 
God; those who not only enter it, but have the full 
right to it. They greatly err who suppose that Jesus 
is here comforting the poor, the hungry, the mourn- 
ers, and such as are treated contemptuously by men. 
He has in mind, according to the scope of this entire 
discourse, those who renounce all things for the sake 
of the kingdom of God: not those who are poor by 
circumstance, but those who are voluntarily poor, 
those who have renounced property and goods, in 
order to follow Christ and to minister to others. 

Matthew inserts ''in spirit," and so qualifies ''the 
poor" to "poor in spirit." This is a proper quali- 
fication and interpretation, if we take it as Matthew 
evidently meant it, to exclude the reference to those 
who are merely poor, and so transfer the poverty to 



iMt. V. 3-12; Lk. vi. 20-26. See Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 
171 sq. 



84 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

the disposition of the heart. But he did not mean to 
limit the words of Jesus here, so as to make them 
teach that the poverty that Jesus speaks of is merely 
in ' ' the spirit. ' ' It is real poverty that Jesus had in 
mind. By ^4n spirit" Matthew means voluntary 
poverty, a poverty of spirit which involves a poverty 
of life.i 

Not the poor as such, can claim the kingdom of 
God as theirs. They have no right given to them by 
their involuntary .poverty, or by their failure to se- 
cure wealth. The rich are not excluded from the 
kingdom by their involuntary wealth, or by their suc- 
cess in the accumulation of wealth. It is only a 
voluntary poverty whose motive is Christian love, 
that has a claim to the kingdom. 

The same is the explanation of the other beatitudes. 
Hunger and weeping as such, have no claim to re- 
wards in the kingdom of God, when they are involun- 
tary and the result of failures in life, whether on the 
part of the people themselves or others. It is volun- 
tary hunger and voluntary weeping that Jesus has in 
mind: that is, such hunger as Jesus himself pre- 

1 This is precisely what Jesus meant when he said to the young 
ruler later : " Sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou 
shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me" (Mk. x. 16-22; 
Mt. xix. 16-22; Lk. xviii. 18-23) ; and when he said in comment 
on the failure to respond to this call : " How hardly shall they that 
have riches enter into the kingdom of God! " Mk. x. 23. See p. 237. 
Tlie early Fathers so understood it. Clement of Alexandria says 
commenting on this passage : " It is not the poor simply, but those 
that have wished to become poor for righteousness sake, that he 
pronounces blessed — those who have refused the honors of the world 
in order to attain the good." Stromata IV. 6. 



THE TWO WAYS, 85 

ferred to suffer in the wilderness, rather than work 
a miracle to satisfy it; such hunger as the disciple 
must be willing to suffer in the work of the kingdom 
of God.^ The weeping is the weeping of self denial, 
of the assumption of the cross, the sundering of all 
ties, the undergoing of suffering in the work of the 
kingdom. 

The fourth beatitude has been enlarged in both 
versions. The phrase that is common and is justified 
by the antithesis is : ^^ Blessed are ye when men shall 
reproach you.'' This is enlarged in Luke by the 
addition of the phrases : ^ ^ shall hate you, and when 
they shall separate you, and cast out your name as 
evil," and all this '^for the Son of man's sake." 
Matthew enlarges first by a parallel beatitude: 

1 This is in accordance with the teaching of Jesus, Mt. x. 9-10: 
" Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses ; no wallet 
for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff; for the 
labourer is worthy of his food." The context indicates that their 
food would sometimes be refused them and they would have to suffer 
for food. See pp. 225 sq. Here again Matthew qualifies the verb by 
inserting the accusative ttjv Smaioavvyv. This should not be translated 
" after righteousness " but " as to," " with respect to righteousness " ; 
a hunger and thirst due to the righteousness of the Kingdom. This 
was the interpretation of the early Church. It is also characteristic 
of the author of the canonical Matthew to lay stress on righteousness 
(see pp. 158 sq.) . The underlying thought of Jesus was certainly that 
those who suffered the pangs of hunger, because of their earnestly 
seeking the kingdom, would be filled. The language of the canonical 
Matthew especially in the English Versions has led to the misin- 
terpretation of these words, as if they referred to the disposition of 
the soul after righteousness rather than to the appetite of hunger. 
That interpretation is certainly erroneous. The thought of Jesus 
is clearly in this context, voluntary suffering of hunger, just as he 
himself suffered it for the sake of the righteousness of the kingdom 
of God. 



86 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

*^ Blessed are they that have been persecuted for 
righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of 
heaven/' and then in the Beatitude itself by: **and 
persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you 
falsely, for my sake. ' ' The reward is also enlarged 
in both versions. In the original it was a sufficient 
reward that they were treated as the prophets of God 
always have been treated. But Luke adds: *^ Re- 
joice in that day, and leap : for behold, your reward 
is great in heaven.'' Matthew adds: ^'Rejoice, and 
be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in 
heaven. ' ' 

It is evident that the fourth Beatitude refers to the 
persecution of those who are doing the work of the 
kingdom. 

If our interpretation of these beatitudes is cor- 
rect, Jesus is pronouncing blessedness upon his faith- 
ful disciples, who follow him in response to his 
call; those who have voluntarily assumed poverty, 
hunger, sorrow and persecution in the ministry of 
the kingdom. These beatitudes therefore present 
the ideals of the highest type of Christian life, the 
life of entire consecration and absolute devotion to 
the service of Christ. They do not present a new 
decalogue in place of the old decalogue. They do 
not give a series of laws to be followed as a discipline 
by all the disciples.^ 

1 They present a call to advance beyond Law into the liberty of 
love and to let love have its proper course in the voluntary renuncia- 
tion of all things for Christ, and the cheerful assumption of the 
cross with its poverty, hunger, sorrow and persecution. The re- 
wards of such a life are great in heaven and in the kingdom of glory. 
(See pp. 238 sg.). 



THE TWO \YAYS. 87 

The antithetical woes given by Luke, which are 
evidently original, were woes upon the rich, the full, 
the joyous, and those who are approved and honoured 
by men. It is evident again that Jesus is not dealing 
with the rich as such, the joyous as such, the hon- 
oured of men as such. The scope of the blessings 
and the woes is in the relation of men to the kingdom. 
The woe is upon the rich who do not use their riches 
for the advancement of the kingdom of God; upon 
those who feast and enjoy themselves without regard 
to the needs of the hungry and the suffering of 
others; upon those who find their reward in the 
approval and flattering regards of their fellow-men.^ 
Jesus is thinking here of the hypocritical rich, the 
selfish, the exacting, the inconsiderately prosperous, 
those who do not consider the poor, or the interests 
of the kingdom of God.^ 

1 These remind us of the woes later pronounced upon the Pharisees 
by Jesus. See pp. 173 sq. 

' Cf. Dives and the rich Fool of the later parables. See pp. 190, 268 
sq. Christian ministers often make grave mistakes in their use of these 
Beatitudes, especially in our time^ when it is the fashion in some 
quarters to make poverty in itself a merit, and wealth in itself a 
damning sin. There is no merit in poverty unless it is voluntary, 
and has been the result of the voluntary relinquishment of riches. 
There is no demerit in wealth, unless it refuses to heed the call of 
Jesus to use that wealth for the relief of human woe and for the 
redemption of mankind. The measure of that use can only be de- 
termined by the rich man himself in the presence of God and under 
the call of Jesus. Experience shows that men who have gained their 
wealth by their great business ability, are able to do more for their 
fellowmen and for Christ's cause by using their capital as a talent 
put in their trust by the Master, and that they can give the kingdom 
of God greater revenue through their skilful management of this 
capital, than if it were all relinquished and given into the hands 



88 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

The four additional beatitudes given by Matthew 
alone are appropriate here for the reason that they 
are cognate in teaching. These are in accord partly 
with the teaching of Jesus elsewhere, and partly with 
the teaching of the Old Testament. 

1. " Blessed are the meek ; for they shall inherit the laiid." 

This is a word of the Old Testament. The meek are 
the afflicted of the Psalter, who suffer persecution 
from the enemies of the kingdom of God.^ They will 
inherit the land of promise, which is essentially the 
same as the kingdom of God. 

2. " Blessed are the merciful ; for they shall obtain mercy." 

These are they who are kind and compassionate to 
others, having the kindness of God and of Christ.^ 

3. " Blessed are the pure in mind ; for they shall see God." 

These are the pure in mind of the Psalter^ who have 
an acknowledged right to be the guests of God inZion. 
They are permitted to dwell in His presence and to 
seek His face in the sacred places. 

4. "Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called sons 

of God." 



of less skilful ecclesiastical financiers. No man, or church, has any 
right to lay down a law for these gifts of love. There is only one 
principle for the rich and poor, and for all men, and that is love to 
Christ. The compulsory relinquishment of wealth and undergoing 
of the cross, is not meritorious, whether that compulsion is physical, 
or from civil or ecclesiastical law. It is the voluntary, loving re- 
nunciation of wealth and rights, above and beyond Law, that is 
alone meritoriou^ in the sight of Christ and God. 

' New HehreiD Lexicon, BDB ; the word »3j^. 

2 It is probable that the original Hebrew was n^on and ion. See 
pp. 115, 174 sq. ., 3 Pss. xxiv. 4; Ixxiii. 1. 



THE TWO WAYS. 89 

These are they who take part in the work which is 
especially that of Christ himself, reconciling men to 
God and to one another. It is a divine work as it is 
a work of love, and those who engage in it are sons of 
God just as those who have the perfect love are sons 
of God.^ These four beatitudes give additional 
qualifications of those who will shine in the kingdom 
of glory. 

The Sermon on the Mount concludes with several 
antitheses of a similar character to the introduction. 
Luke is to be followed for this material rather than 
Matthew. 

The first of these is an antithesis of good and evil 
trees. 2 The original of the parable of the Trees, 
which underlies the three versions, was probably 
this. 

" The good tree bringeth not forth evil fruit. 
And the evil tree bringeth not forth good fruit. 
By their fruits ye know them. 

1 Lk. vi. 35-36. See pp. 106-108. 

2Mt. vii. 15 introduces the parable of the trees and their fruit. 

*' Beware of the false prophets, 
Who come unto you in sheep's clothing; 
Within they are ravening wolves. 
By their fruits ye shall know them." 

This is not given in Luke and seems to be too early in the teaching 
of Jesus. It is however appropriately introduced here as an 
illustration of the parable. The Parable is given in Mt. vii. 16-20; 
Lk. vi. 43-44, and in another version in Mt. xii. 33, It is difficult 
to decide which is the more original, all the more that Luke gives 
an additional Logion vi. 45, which is not in Mt. vii., but is in Mt. xii. 
34-35. Weiss and Wendt think that the latter is given by Mt. xii. 
in its appropriate place. But Luke here, as elsewhere, is more 
correct. 



90 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

Do men gather figs of thorns? 

Or do they gather grapes from brambles ? 

Every tree is known by its own fruits." 

The ethical principle is, that just as a tree is known 
by its fruits so a man is known by his conduct, 
whether he is a good, or a bad man. We must judge 
by deeds not by words.^ 

The second antithesis is between the good and the 
evil treasure.^ 

" The good man out of his good treasure ' bringeth forth good 

things ; 
And the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil 

things : 
Out of the abundance of the mind his mouth speaketh." 

The evil-minded speak evil; the good-minded speak 
good. Men may be hypocritical and speak good 
when they are evil, but the reverse can hardly be true. 
Good men cannot speak evil. And even hypocrites 
do not always keep their tongues in check. A little 
carelessness, a loose rein, and evil runs over their 
lips and tongue ; so that eventually they are detected. 
The third antithesis is between the wise and the 
foolish builder. The one hears the words of Jesus 
and does them. The other hears and does them not. 



» The sentence : " Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit 
is hewn down and cast into the fire"; is probably an addition. 

2 Lk. vi. 45. This is given by Mt. xii. 34-35 in another connection. 
Luke is here correct. 

3 r^f KapSiac is not in the best texts of Matthew. It is an insertion 
of Luke to explain and prepare for the use of KapiVia in the appli- 
cation, which in his text follows the logion, while Matthew lets it 
precede and so connects it with the direct address to the Pharisees. 



TEE TWO WAY8. 91 

The former is compared to one who builds his house 
upon the rock, the latter to one who builds his house 
upon the sand. The storm of judgment comes. The 
one house withstands the storm, and remains safe 
and sound. The other is overcome and falls in great 
disaster.^ 

We shall now consider those other passages re- 
lating to the antithesis of the two ways, which are at- 
tached to the Sermon on the Mount by Matthew, al- 
though they really belong elsewhere as given in other 
passages of the Evangelists. A logion is attached to 
Jesus' interpretation of the law against adultery.^ 
It probably belongs to the Perean ministry. We 
may arrange the latter logion, which comes first and 
is common to the three evangelists, thus : 

" Woe unto the world, because of occasions of stumbling ! 
It must needs be that occasions of stumbling come; 
But woe to that man through whom the occasions of stumbling 
come ! 

If anyone cause one of these little ones to stumble, 

It were better that a great millstone were hanged about his 

neck. 
And that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea." 

The little ones of Christ are protected against those 
who would injure them, by a woe upon their oppres- 
sors, more fearful than a terrible death. This pen- 

1 See pp. 51 sq. 

2Mt. V. 29-30. But in Mk. ix. 43-48; Mt. xviii. 8-9, it is at- 
tached to the incident of Blessing little Children. It is there pre- 
ceded by a cognate logion which may be indeed part of the same, 
namely Mk. ix. 42; Mt. xviii. 6-7. But this latter is given by Lk. 
xvii. 1-2. 



92 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

alty is now brought out in the three triplets that 
follow :^ 

"If thy hand cause thee to stumble, cut it off; 
It is better for thee maimed to enter into Hfe, 
Than to have two hands and be cast into Gehenna. 

If thy foot cause thee to stumble, cut it off; 
It is better for thee halt to enter into life. 
Than to have two feet and be cast into Gehenna. 

If thine eye cause thee to stumble, cast it out; 
It is better for thee with one eye to enter into life, 
Than to have two eyes and be cast into Gehenna." 

The several versions use life and kingdom of God 
as substitutes one for the other. Gehenna is ex- 
plained in the various versions by /^unquenchable 
fire''; ^' where their worm dieth not and the fire is 
not quenched''; ^^everlasting fire"; and '^Gehenna 
of fire. "2 

In answer to the question *^Are they few that be 
saved?" Jesus gives a touching logion, probably 
during the Perean ministry.^ Salvation to Jesus, 
means in this context as usual, that salvation which 
consists in entrance into the kingdom of glory, after 
having been approved by an act of judgment at its 
gates.^ 



iMt. V. 29-30; xviii. 8-9; Mk. ix. 43-48. 

2 See General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 
90, 91. 

3Mt. vii. 13-14, 21-23 which is given in its historical position in 
Lk. xiii. 23-30. 

* Owing to a very modern use of salvation as applying to the be- 
ginning of a Christian life and the entrance into the kingdom of 
grace by faith and baptism, this passage is ordinarily misapplied to 
conversion. (See Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 204 sq.) 



TEE TWO WAYS. 93 

The two versions lead to this original. 

" Strive to enter in through the narrow gate. 
For broad is the way that leadeth unto Apoleia, 
And many are they who enter thereby. 
For straightened is the way that leadeth unto Life, 
And few are they who find it." 

Apoleia is the Abaddon of the Old Testament, the 
place of the lost immediately after death. A broad 
way through this world leadeth thither, and the mass 
of mankind go on that way until they die and enter 
therein. The life is the life everlasting, correspond- 
ing with kingdom of glory, which lies beyond the 
judgment day, at the time of the resurrection. A 
narrow gate must be entered then and a straightened 
way leads on through this world until that day is 
reached ; therefore few find it. 

Luke gives, immediately after the previous logion, 
condensed by him, another logion which is closely 
related to it.^ The original was probably the fol- 
lowing : 

" When once the master of the house has risen up. 

And when he has shut the door. 

And ye begin to stand without. 

And to knock at the door 

And to say: * Lord, Lord, 

Open the door unto us.' 

He will answer and say unto you : 
' I know you not whence you are.' 



1 Lk. xiii. 25 sq. Matthew gives it in a condensed form im- 
mediately before the closing logion of the Sermon on the Mount, 
Mt. vii. 22-23. 



94 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JE8U8, 

Then ye will begin to say : ^ Lord, Lord, 
Did we not eat and drink in thy presence? 
Didst thou not teach in our streets? 
Did we not prophesy by thy name? 
Did we not by thy name cast out demons? 
Did we not many miracles by thy name ? ' 
Then he will answer and say unto you, 
' I know you not whence you are.' " ^ 

Here we have a judgment scene at tlie close of the 
dispensation. The pleas are touching and appar- 
ently strong. Those who plead recognize Jesus as 
sovereign lord. They have been his disciples. They 
have been admitted to the familiarity of his meals. 
They have had apostolic privileges. They have pro- 
phesied, cast out demons, and wrought miracles in 
his name. What more could they have done? What 
apostle could have done more? And yet they are re- 
jected! The reason is very evident. They had no 
real acquaintance with the Lord. As the evangelist 
explains, they were workers of iniquity, they were 
evil-doers. 

Another logion is given here by Luke, which seems 
to be in its appropriate place, and yet it is given by 
Matthew in connection with another story.^ The 
version of Matthew is fuller and nearer the original. 
It is appropriate for study here. 

" Many will come from the East and the West, 
And will sit down in the kingdom of God 
With Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: 
But the children of the kingdom will be cast into Gehenna." 

1 The last line, " Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity," is an 
addition of the evangelist. 2 Mt. viii. 11-12. 



TEE TWO. WAYS. 95 

The children of the kingdom are those who belong 
to the kingdom and have an inheritance in it ; namely 
jnst those professing Christians of Lnke, or the chil- 
dren of Abraham, of Matthew. Bnt they will be 
shut out as workers of iniquity, when men from all 
parts of the earth will enter after being approved at 
the gate.^ 

A concluding logion, a couplet, is now given.^ The 
version of Luke is fullest, and seems to be the most 
original. 

"Behold there are last which shall be first, 
And there are first which shall be last." 

Those first in call and privilege of inheritance, 
anticipated, preceded, and their places in the king- 
dom taken, by those who came long afterwards, 
and who used their late call and advantage to the 
full. It is ever so in morals: it is ever so in 
life. 

We may conclude with another logion, inserted in 
the Sermon on the Mount by Matthew, which puts in 
antithesis God and Mammon.^ Luke attaches it to 
the parable of the Unjust Steward, where it probably 
belongs : 



1 Lk. adds to first line " from the north and the south/' to the 
third " all the prophets " ; but these were not original. Matthew 
substitutes for Gehenna of the original " into outer darkness " and 
further explains it as usual by: " there will be weeping and gnashing 
of teeth." 

2Mt. vi. 24; Lk. xvi. 13. 

3 Mk. X. 34, and Mt. xx. IG. 



96 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

" No one can serve two masters ; 
For either he will hate the one and love the other; 
Or else he will hold to one and despise the other: 
Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." 

Men must take their choice between God as the Mas- 
ter, the supreme ethical norm, or Gold. They can- 
not divide service between the two. They cannot 
serve God and Mammon at the same time. 



vni. 

Godlike Love. 

The great ttieme of the Sermon on the Mount was 
Love. Immediately after the Beatitudes Matthew^ 
inserts a number of ethical logia, which are given 
elsewhere with more propriety in Luke.^ It then 
gives a long discussion as to the Law^ which could 
hardly have been given prior to the Perean ministry, 
or the close of the Galilean ministry ; probably some 
time during the former, as we should judge from 
some similar logia in Luke.^ Even this discourse 
has other elements mixed with it that are given else- 
where.^ 

But Luke lets the teaching of Jesus as to Love 
immediately follow the Beatitudes and he is doubt- 
less correct. He begins this part of the discourse of 
Jesus with the words: ^'But I say unto you." The 
clause to which this is an antithesis does not appear 
in Luke. It is however given in Matthew in the so- 
called lex talionis, and in this Matthew is doubtless 
correct. Jesus said: ^^Ye have heard that it was 
said, ^An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' "^ 

1 Mt. V. 13-16. 

2Lk. Tiii. 16; xi. 33; xiv. 34-35. Cf. Mk. iv. 21; ix. 50. 

3Lk. V. 17-37. 

4Lk. xvi. 17-18; xii. 58-59. 

6Mk. ix. 43-47; Mt. xviii. 8-9; Mk. x. 11; Mt. xix. 9. 

6 Mt. V. 38. 

7 97 



98 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESU8. 

This law is in the Covenant code in connection with 
the pentade of injuries to the person. 

^^But if hurt transpire, thou shalt give person for 
person, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, 
foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, 
bruise for bruise.''^ 

^^ Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for 
tooth ; according as one puts a blemish in a man, so 
shall it be put in him. ' '^ 

^^ Person for person, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, 
hand for hand, foot for foot. ' '^ 

This legal principle is thus in three different codes. 
The common language is what is quoted by Jesus. 
He is here dealing, therefore, with the three primary 
codes of the Old Testament Law, and not with any 
traditional use or interpretation of them. It is evi- 
dent that Jesus rises far above these rules. He does 
not antagonize them. 

He does not oppose the lex talionis, as a prin- 
ciple of judicial procedure; but he advises his dis- 
ciples not to exact their rights in damages from 
others. The Old Testament did not require a man to 
insist upon damages in kind. It allowed compensa- 
tion except for murder. But Jesus goes further and 
counsels his disciples to suffer wrong without de- 
manding punishment in kind, or even compensation. 
The original at the basis of both versions was prob- 
ably: 

1 Ex. xxi. 23-25. 2 Lv. xxiv. 20 (H). 3 Dt. xix. 21. 



GODLIKE LOVE. 99 

"But I say unto you: resist not evil. 
Whosoever smiteth thee on the cheek, 
Turn him the other also. 
Whosoever taketh away thy coat. 
Let him have thy cloak also. 
Whosoever compelleth thee to go a mile, 
Go with him twain. 
Whosoever would borrow of thee. 
Give him what he asketh. 
Whosoever taketh away thy goods. 
Ask them not again from him. 
As ye would that men should do to you, 
Do ye also to them likewise." 

1. The smiting on the cheek, according to the lex 
talionis, would grant the right that the smiter should 
be smitten in the same place in retribution. Jesus 
says : do not exact this just retribution allowed by 
Law; rather let him smite again. 

2. The Law gives the creditor the right to the 
under garment, but not to the outer garment, except 
during the day-time,^ because it was the poor man's 
covering at night. Jesus says: do not claim your 
reserved right ; let him have the outer garment also. 

3. There were restrictions to forced service ex- 
acted by public officials. A man might appeal to his 
legal rights, not to go more than a mile. Jesus says : 
no, forego your right; go with him two miles. 

4. "When a man would borrow, and asks ; give him 
what he has no right to claim. 

5. If a man take away your goods secretly or 
violently without permission, he has^qjnght to them, 

lEx. xxii. 26-27; Dt. xxiv. 13. 



100 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

they are not liis ; but suffer the wrong, do him no in- 
jury by asking for their return. 

All these illustrations cluster about personal 
rights, about which men make much. Most of the 
litigation and strife of social and commercial life is 
just here. Jesus urges not to insist on rights, but 
rather to submit to wrongs. Luke gives a general 
principle of guidance as a summing up,^ namely the 
so-called Golden Rule. It is similar to a favorite 
saying of Eabbi Hillel.^ Tobit^ also has it: ^^Do 
that to no man which thou hatest. ' '^ 

The implication here is that you would not have 
others act to you on the principles of strict retribu- 
tive justice. You would not wish them to withhold, 
from you everything except your rights. You would 
not be pleased if all your fellow-men acted towards 
you on exact justice, fencing you off from everything 
to which you had no right, and strictly shutting you 
up within your rights. Life would be intolerable on 
this mechanical principle. As we would have kind- 
ness from others we should do kindness to them. 
This is another mode of stating that love is the 
supreme test. 

All this is in the sphere of the liberty of Christian 
love. It is not a Christian law in place of a lower 
Jewish law. No one has a right to exact such self- 
sacrificing conduct of another. You cannot trans- 

1 This is given by Mt, vii. 12 out of place. 

2 Talm. Bahli. Sahh., p. 31. " Quod tibi ipsi odiosum est, proximo 
ne facias, nam haec .est tota lex." 

3Tob. iv. 15. * Messiah of Gospels, p. 7. 



GODLIKE LOVE. 101 

form a loving deed into a rightful duty ; for it is the 
very nature of love that it transcends duty: it ex- 
ceeds rights of all kinds. Such doing to others in 
accordance with the principle of love is not blind. It 
recognizes the rights of others and the just limits to 
their claims, when it is ready to exceed them. It 
sees clearly its own rights, when it is willing to 
forego them. Love is the guide in every case, and it 
is free to act, or not to act, in accordance with its 
own higher instincts. 

There are those who have supposed that Jesus was 
instituting a new law, or new pentade of rights in 
contradiction to the pentade in the Law.^ This is not 
so. If so, he would be violating the Law, which he 
expressly disclaims.^ He does not deny the legal 
rightfulness of the lex talionis. Courts of justice 
must now as ever proceed on that principle. But 
Jesus calls upon his disciples to rise above Law into 
the liberty of love, and not to claim their rights ; but 
to forego the desire to injure others by retributive 
justice. 

We cannot however make even this teaching of 
Jesus into a law to Christians without destroying the 
liberty of love. All such conduct is what may be 
called work of supererogation ; that which Law can- 
not ask ; that which duty does not exact. There are 
circumstances indeed when love shows that these ex- 
hortations of Jesus cannot safely be followed. It is 
safe to say that love forbids a man in many cases to 

lEx. 21. 2Mt. V. 17. 



102 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

exact blow for blow ; but there are other cases where 
the safety of the community requires that assault and 
battery should be punished, not only by the authori- 
ties, but by the individual in defence of himself or 
family. God punishes men. Does he violate love 
by so doing! Civil law and eccelesiastical law punish 
injuries to persons. Is all crime to escape punish- 
ment? Non-resistance may become an encourage- 
ment to crime ; in such a case love demands resist- 
ance. But the principle that Jesus lays down, is a 
guiding principle. Better suffer wrong twice over 
than do wrong once. Be patient and forbearing 
under injuries. Turning the other cheek may be 
done in defiance, entirely contrary to the spirit of the 
exhortation. If it can be done in love, it may be 
done. If it cannot be done freely in love, it cannot be 
done as Jesus exhorts. 

Two of these illustrations have to do with unjust 
exactions : one of a creditor, the other of a tyrannical 
official. 

Let the creditor have more than his due, rather 
than less ; better that he should wrong you, than that 
you should wrong him. This precept also has its 
limitations. It is capable of abuse, by the selfish 
and the criminal. If your loving act should be trans- 
formed into a right of the creditor, it would cease to 
have the freedom of the loving act. There are laws of 
property, which the Christian must adhere to for the 
sake of others. There are circumstances under 
which it is more of a sacrifice to seek redress than to 



GODLIKE LOVE. 



103 



forego it. Love may demand the hardship of mak- 
ing the resistance to wrongs against property for the 
good of society. The principle of love and the dis- 
position to relinquish rights rather than enforce 
them, should dominate the Christian in all commer- 
cial transactions. Better to be a lamb than a bull 
or a bear; and yet the Christian may have to be a 
bear, fighting for his cubs, and a bull battling for his 
herd. 

Let the public officer exact of you more than his 
right, rather than show any disrespect to public 
authority. There are limits to this also. The public 
officer may be a tyrant to be overthrown for the pub- 
lic good, or a scoundrel to be resisted and forced 
from his office for the benefit of society. The prin- 
ciple of love will determine every case of casuistry 
here also. 

The last cases are cases in which the poor ask for 
relief, either in the form of a gift, or of a loan. We 
should have the spirit of kindness and brotherly love 
to relieve by giving a loan to those in necessity. But 
there are limits here also. Better make mistakes in 
giving and loaning than in withholding needed help. 
But we should not give or loan when we have suffi- 
cient reason to think that the gift or loan will do 
harm rather than good; e. g., when it would be an 
encouragement to a life of improvidence, or to a life 
of professional begging. The principle of love then 
commands us to withhold the gift or loan. Giving 
and loaning to the poor should be done wisely and 



104 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

systematically, not indiscriminately and without 
knowledge. There are those who oppose systematic 
help and encourage indiscriminate giving on the 
basis of these words of Jesus, but wrongly so. Here, 
as in all cases, the precepts have to be taken to the 
fire of love to be read aright in any given case. 

This giving and loaning has nothing whatever to 
do with the giving and loaning for commercial en- 
terprises, the giving or loaning money or property 
to increase the gains of others. Jesus does not con- 
template such a commercial situation, and his pre- 
cepts as to giving and loaning do not apply to it. 

We have to consider that Jesus has started out with 
the lex talionis, the law of exact retribution. He ex- 
horts us not to exact retribution for our own individ- 
ual injuries, but rather in the spirit of love to suffer 
much greater injury than to do injury even in just 
retribution; not to exact our rights; not to resist 
wrongs, commercial, political or social; but rather 
to suffer greater wrongs than to do wrongs. * * Suffer 
wrong rather than do wrong; submit to injustice 
rather than be unjust; forfeit your rights rather 
than deprive others of their rights"; that is his 
teaching. 

The lex talionis leads in necessary sequence to its 
antithesis, the principle of love. The traditional 
Law which Jesus cites, was : 

" Ye have heard that it was said, 
Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy." ^ 

» Mt. V. 43. 



GODLIKE LOVE. 105 

This is omitted by Luke, but is really required by the 
adversative clause in which Jesus introduces the ex- 
hortation of love. The law of love is -} 

^ ' Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. ' ' 

''The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be 
unto you as the homeborn among you, and thou shalt 
love him as thyself. "^ The stranger is included 
with the native as an object of love. But this 
stranger was one dwelling in the land; an alien 
neighbor. 

The law commands to exterminate the enemy, the 
Canaanites. 

''But of the cities of these peoples, which the Lord 
thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, thou shalt 
save alive nothing that breatheth : but thou shalt put 
them under the ban ; the Hittite and the Amorite, the 
Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebu- 
site.^'s 

"Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek 
from under heaven."* 

"An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into 
the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth genera- 
tion shall none belonging to them enter into the as- 
sembly of Yahweh forever. Thou shalt not seek 
their peace, nor their prosperity all thy days for- 
ever."^ These laws found expression in the spirit 
of the Prophets and psalmists. 



iLv. xix. 18. 2Lv. xix. 34. 

»Dt. XX. 16-18. *Dt. XXV. 17-19. 

6 Dt. xxiii. 3-6. 



106 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

" O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed ; 
Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. 
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones 
against the rock." ^ 

Compare Nehemiah 's curses on Tobiah, the Ammon- 
ite, and Sanballat. ^^ Cover not their iniquity, and let 
not their sin be blotted out from before thee. ' ^^ The 
traditional law as to hating enemies had a sufficient 
basis in the teaching of the Old Testament. 

But Jesus builds on the law of love of the code of 
Holiness, and extends it beyond the neighbor, 
whether native or foreign, to the enemy. 

His sentences of love are among the grandest in 
the Gospels. A careful study of the parallels,^ leads 
to the opinion that the original of Jesus ' words was 
as follows. 

" Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, 
Bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully 
use you. 

n. 

If ye love them that love you, what thank have ye? 

For even publicans love those that love them; 

If ye do good to them that do good to you, what thank 

have ye? 
For even sinners do good to those that do good to them; 
And if ye salute your brethren, what do ye more than others ? 
For even the Gentiles salute their brethren; 
And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what 

thank have ye? 
For even sinners lend to sinners to receive again as much. 



iPs. cxxxvii. 8-9. 2 Ne. iv. 5. ^ Mt. v. 44-48; Lk. vi. 27-36. 



GODLIKE LOVE. 107 

III. 
Love your enemies, and do good without hoping to receive ; 
And your reward will be great, and ye will be sons of the 

Most High; 
Who maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good. 
Who sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 
Who is kind toward the thankful and the evil. 
Be ye therefore loving as your Father is loving." 

Thus Jesus sums up all human conduct in love, 
love to all, love even to enemies, persecutors, the 
worst of men. There are four distinct clauses of 
love. 

1. Love your enemies. Even publicans give love 
for love. The Christian exceeds that measure of 
quid pro quo, and loves those who love not, and even 
those who hate. This is the excess of love, which 
has merit in it, which cannot be repaid by those who 
are the recipients of it. 

2. Bo good to them that hate you. Even sinners 
repay kind deeds with kind deeds; that is in the 
realm of rights. But the Christian exceeds that 
measure and does deeds of kindness to those that 
hate him, and are unkind and unjust to him; he re- 
wards good for evil. Here is the merit of the excess 
of love which those who receive it cannot repay. 

3. Bless them that curse you. The Gentiles salute 
their brethren, when they meet. It is right so to do. 
The Christian exceeds; he salutes with a blessing 
those who will not salute him. He blesses with 
blessings those who meet him with curses. Here 
again love exceeds rights and gains a merit which is 
above law. 



108 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

4. Pray for them that despitefully use you. 
Matthew sharpens it into ^'persecute you/' We 
would expect a sentence constructed like the previous 
ones. Even the Gentiles pray for those who wish 
them well. But pray ye for those who do not wish 
you well ; those who insult and abuse you. It is not 
easy to show the connection of the fourth couplet of 
II. with this clause. The introduction of the sentence 
respecting lending seems inappropriate, and yet 
there may have been a connection through an under- 
lying thought. For it is evident that that which calls 
for prayer from others most easily is loaning or giv- 
ing to them in their need. Such loaning brings down 
blessings of the poor upon the head of those who 
lend. They pray: ^^ The Lord reward you.'' From 
this point of view the sentence respecting lending 
may be germane to the thought of prayer for those 
that despitefully use you. Furthermore, especially 
in the Orient, those who are open to insult are the 
poor and the needy. Asking for alms, or for a loan, 
gives the opportunity for brutal insult and maltreat- 
ment. Accordingly Jesus says: Sinners lend to 
sinners, expecting an equitable return. It is a com- 
mercial matter with them, an equivalence of rights. 
But the Christian lends to those who are unable to 
repay. He lends to those who would insult him. He 
intercedes with God on behalf of those who persecute 
him. There is merit in this excessive love. 

Thus at all points Christian love rises above rights 
and duties, and knows no limits to its own outreach- 



V 



GODLIKE LOVE. 109 

ing benefaction. Love to men finds its only measure 
in tile love of God to men. God is the one great 
Lover and the one great Giver. He loves, and gives 
in love, to the good and the evil alike ; to the just and 
the unjust alike ; to the unthankful and the evil alike. 
He is the all-loving. The Christian disciple is to be 
like the Father, all loving, and thus be the child of 
the Father, who alone can give the reward for all the 
abounding excesses of love. 

Luke uses the term ^'merciful." This is suitable 
to the context, which sets forth the kindness of God 
and makes Him the model of all love. Matthew sub- 
stitutes for it the more technical '^ perfect." The 
perfection of the Christian, as the perfection of God, 
is in holy love, especially in the form of loving deeds 
to others.^ 

Matthew and Luke give, as part of the Sermon on 
the Mount, the advice of Jesus respecting love as 
exhibited in the estimation of others.^ Luke adds 
other material. A careful study of the two reports 
gives the following original.^ 

^TeXeioc is used xix. 21 also^, nowhere else in the Gospels, in both 
cases interpretations of the author of the Gospel and not used by- 
Jesus. The difference between Matthew and Luke here is due to 
a difference in meaning of Dm in Hebrew and Aramaic. In Aramaic 
Dm, means love. This is suited to the context and was doubtless 
the word Jesus used. This justifies Matthew's interpretation TeXeiog. 
But Luke's oiKTipjuuv corresponds with the Hebrew DilTi and implies 
a Hebrew logion at the basis of his report. xPVf^'o^ = Heb. y^r2. 

2 This is another form of hypocrisy and very appropriate in con- 
nection with the three already given by Matthew, but omitted by 
Luke. 

3 Compare also the logion, Mk. iv. 24 b. 



no THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

" Judge not and ye shall not be judged. 
Release and ye shall be released/ 
Give and good measure shall be given to you/ 
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; 
And with what measure ye measure, it shall be measurec 
you." 

Be loving in your estimation of others. Condemn 
them not, but acquit tliem. Give them good measure 
in all your dealings with them. Do all this in the 
eyes of God, who will judge you as you judge them, 
and give to you in the same measure of rewards and 
punishments you give to them. 

Matthew enforces this by a parable of the mote and 
the beam.^ 

" Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, 
But considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 
Or how canst thou say to thy brother : ^ Brother, 
Let me cast out the mote that is in thine eye ' ; 
When thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine 
own eye? 



1 " Condemn not and ye will not be condemned " of Luke seems 
to be simply explanatory of " judge not." Judge and release are 
the two antithetical and complementary parts. 

2 This is not given in Matthew, but seems to be original from the 
reference to measure given by both Matthew and Luke below, and 
by Mk. iv. 24. It is possible however that Mark gives the original 
place. But the line " pressed down, shaken together, running over, 
shall they give into your bosom " ; while it may be original, yet is 
in different style from the context and was probably added as an 
enlargement upon good measure. 

5> Tliis he does not call a parable. But Luke introduces it by 
using the term parable and two sentences which are appropriate to 
the context; the one used by Jesus in Mt. xv. 14, with reference 
to the Pharisees, the other in Mt. x. 24 where it seems to be in a 
better connection. Neither of them belongs here. They disturb the 
sequence, which is so powerful in Matthew. 



GODLIKE LOVE. HI 

Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, 

And then shalt thou see clearly, 

To cast out the mote that is in thy brother's eye." 

The ^'mote'' is rather a splinter. The '^ beam '^ is 
a log, beam, rafter. 

Jesus conceives that it is a hypocrite who is judg- 
ing here. He is severe in his condemnation of 
others, unwilling to condone an offence, insisting oif 
the full measure of punishment, when he himself is 
immensely more guilty than the man he condemns. 
He who is guilty himself is not competent to judge 
others. Innocence is needed in order to see clearly 
and discriminate between that which is right and that 
which is wrong. 

A man's sense of personal sinfulness should make 
him reluctant to condemn other sinners, and should 
rather lead him to be charitable towards them. A 
man's liability to temptation should make him con- 
siderate to those who have fallen in temptation. As 
the sentence of Wisdom saith : ^ ' Love covereth over 
all transgressions. ' '^ Anger stirreth up strife : love 
does not; love will not search out evil in a man, but 
will rather cover it up. Love will not be ready to con- 
demn, but will always prefer to acquit; will never 
condemn until forced to do so. 

This passage is aimed at censoriousness towards 
our fellowmen, the condemnation of private persons 
by private persons. It does not forbid judgment in 
courts of justice. There judgment must be pro- 

iPr. X. 12: cf. 1 Peter iv. 8. 



112 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

nounced on the evidence, and on the evidence men 
must be condemned or acquitted. No more does it 
forbid ns from forming judgments on persons and 
things, which force themselves upon us, and where 
a decision is necessary in order to right conduct.^ It 
does not teach us to withhold our opinion of great 
public questions, or of the conduct of men in our 
circle of acquaintance. We must condemn evil and 
acquit the good. We must constantly form judg- 
ments as to what we should do in relation to others. 
But the warning is that we should first execute judg- 
ment on ourselves, before we attempt it upon others : 
and that we should not judge others unless we have 
an imperative call so to do, in the way of positive 
duty. A higher law may suspend for a time the 
lower law and require its suspension, but it must be 
clearly a higher law. Judge not unless you must, is 
therefore a safe rule ; and we must only judge when 
higher interests compel us so to do, and then our 
judgment should be prompted by love.^ 

Jesus, in the body of the Sermon on the Mount, 
thus sets forth the great principle of his kingdom: 
the principle of God-like Love. This is a love which 
rises far above rights and Law into the liberty of 
Godlikeness. It is manifested on the negative side 



1 Several passages have been interpolated into the discourse at this 
point. (a) The pasage Mt. vii. 6 did not originally belong to this 
context, see p. 180. (&) The passage Mt. vii. 7-11 is given by Lk. 
xi. 9-13 in circumstances which seem to be original, see p. 40. (c) 
Mt. vii. 12 has been considered in its proper connection according to 
the order of Lk. vi. 31, see p. 100. {d) Mt. vii. 13-14 is given in 
better context in Lk. xiii. 23-24, see p. 93. 



GODLIKE LOVE. 113 

in the patient endurance of wrong, the relinquish- 
ment of rights, and selfsacrifice for the good of 
others. On the positive side it is manifested in kind- 
ness and in loving deeds, in charitable judgment of 
men in their words and deeds, and a doing good to all 
men as God does, whether they are good or evil, 
friends or enemies. Such Love constitutes Chris- 
tian Perfection.^ 



1 1\, is evident that his apostles so understood him, see 1 Pt. ii. 
19-23; iii. 8-9; iv. 8-9; Jas. ii. 8-9; iii. 13-18; iv. 11-12; Gal. v. 6, 
13-25; 1 Cor. xiii. Rom. xii. 9-21; xiv. 13-19; Eph. iv. 31-v. 2; Phil, 
ii, 1-8; Col. iii, 12-14. So did the early fathers, see Hermas, Sim. 
V. 3; Ignatius, Ep. 9-10; Clement, Rom, xlix. 1; Irenseus, Haer. iv. 
7, 8, 9; Dionysius, Epist. ad, Soter. (Eusebius, C, H. iv. 23, 10.) 
It is only in modern times and chiefly in the Protestant world that 
Jesus has been so generally misunderstood as making Christianity 
a higher Law. 



IX. 

Christlike Love. 

Love, in the teaching of Jesus is sometimes 
brought under the category of Law as obligatory, 
sometimes is given apart from all Law as in the 
realm of liberty for those who would be Godlike and 
Christlike. 

We shall first consider the love of Jesus himself. 
His miracles, with few exceptions, were evidently 
miracles of love. They were chiefly cures and provis- 
ions for the bodily needs of men. His love impelled 
him to work miracles, at great cost to himself; as in 
his Sabbath cures, which so bitterly excited the Phari- 
sees against him; and especially in his healing the 
blind man at the feast of Dedication; and in his 
raising of Lazarus from the dead, which more than 
anything else brought on the crisis and hastened his 
death.^ 

In his introductory Galilean ministry, after he 
called Matthew the publican to be his disciple, he 
partakes of his hospitality in a farewell feast.^ The 
Pharisees murmur because Jesus ate with publicans 
and sinners; that is, sat at table with them and had 
fellowship with them. Jesus gives the reason in a 
logion. 

* ISIew Light on the TAfe of Jesus, pp. 81 sq.; 91 sq. 
2Mt. ix. 9-13; Mk. ii. 13-17; Lk. v. 27-32. 

114 



CHRISTLIKE LOVE. 115 

" They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they 
that are sick. 
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." ^ 

Jesus was not associating with the publicans and 
sinners in the way of social enjoyment. It was not 
a question of appropriate companionship. He was 
acting as a good physician. His work was among 
those who needed him, and not among those who 
needed him not. He came to call the sinners, as 
Luke rightly interprets, ^'to repentance,'^ to make 
them righteous, so that they might be in accordance 
with the holy will of God. The quotation from 
Hosea is apt; it indicates what one of the earliest 
prophets taught of God's requirements. 

"I desire kindness and not sacrifice; 

And the knowledge of God, more than burnt-offering." 

Jesus was acting in accordance with the prophet ^s 
teaching and the Pharisees were not. He was kind, 
loving, merciful to sinners. In this he was the model 
for those who are called to follow him. 

In the introduction to the mission of the Twelve, 
Matthew tells us that Jesus, ''when he saw the 
multitudes, was moved with compassion for them, 
because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep 
not having a shepherd."^ Jesus' bowels of sym- 

1 Matthew, Mark and Luke give both lines. Luke adds to the 
second " repentance,'' which is of the nature of an interpretation. 
Matthew adds a citation from Hos. vi. 6 (Greek version) repeated 
in Mt, xii. 7. It is exceedingly apt. But in its present order in 
Matthew it is interjected between the two lines of the couplet, and 
therefore can not be in its original place. 

2 Mt. ix. 36-38. 



116 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

pathy were moved towards the multitude. Matthew 
gives a logion here which is given by Luke in con- 
nection with the mission of the Seventy.^ 

" The harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few. 
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, 
That he send forth labourers into his harvest." 

His disciples were to have the same bowels of 
compassion as their Master had. 

On the way from Galilee to Jerusalem to the feast 
of Tabernacles,^ James and John would bid fire to 
come down from heaven and consume the Samari- 
tans, who were not hospitable to Jesus and his apos- 
tles on their way to Jerusalem. But Jesus rebuked 
them. Thus he condemned a vindictive and revenge- 
ful spirit in two of the Twelve.^ 

During the Perean ministry Jesus gives the three 
parables of Love.^ The love of seeking the one lost 
sheep and the one lost coin, is the love of the Messiah 
in seeking sinners and leading them to repentance. 
The love of the Father is in welcoming back the 
prodigal son, when he comes with penitence, con- 
fession, and vows of a new life. The father was 
moved with compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, 

iMt. X. 2; Messiah of the Gospels, p. 238. 2 Lk. ix. 51-56. 

3 There are several additions in ancient Mss. here which illus- 
trate how the text was enlarged for purposes of explanation. Thus 
some Mss. add " even as Elijah did"; others: " For the Son of Man 
came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them " ; also " ye know 
not what manner of spirit ye are of." These were all very good and 
proper, but none of them belong to the text of Luke, still less to 
the words of Jesus and his apostles at this time. 

* Lk. XV. 



CHRI8TLIKE LOVE. 117 

and kissed him. The father makes him a guest of 
honour, with the best robe, the ring and shoes, the 
fatted calf, and music and dancing. The elder 
brother is the ideal Pharisee, and the Pharisaic ideal 
of what God and His Messiah should be. The 
prodigal son, who transgressed the commandments 
and wasted his property in an evil life, deserved 
anger and punishment; not love and gifts. If God 
dealt with men according to rights, He would deal 
with them in that way. But He does not so deal with 
them. He deals with them in love, forgiveness and 
gifts to the unworthy. That is the Christian way. 
The Pharisaic way is unchristian and anti-christian. 

In the Perean ministry, Jesus gave the principle 
of love renewed and varied explanations in relation 
to his disciples. Soon after the journey through 
Samaria to Jerusalem, probably soon after the feast 
of Tabernacles, in Jerusalem, Jesus gave the par- 
able of the Good Samaritan. This is appended by 
Luke to the question of the lawyer as to the Law. 
Jesus sums up the Law in the two commands: 
^ ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength ; and 
thy neighbor as thyself."^ 

A man was left by thieves, stripped, and half dead 

^ Lk. X. 25-37. This incident, or another like it, is given in Mk. 
xii. 28-34; Mt. xxii. 34-40, in Jerusalem, in the conflicts of Passion 
Week ; but Luke omits it there. At all events, so far as the summing 
up of the Law in love, it is the same there as here. But the parable 
is given only by Luke. It is in response to the question: "Who is 
my neighbor ? " 



118 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

from blows. The priest passed by on the other side 
of the way, ignoring him; so also the Levite. The 
Samaritan was moved with compassion, bound np 
the sufferer's wounds, brought him to an inn, took, 
care of him, and left means for his support until his 
recovery. The one that proved neighbor unto him 
that fell among the robbers was the Samaritan, who 
showed mercy on him. Jesus said : ^ ' Go and do thou 
likewise. '^ This was a practical exhibition of love 
to an enemy; for the Jews and Samaritans were 
hostile. The priest and Levite were afraid of viola- 
ting the ceremonial law by contact with a wounded 
man, and so regarded the ceremonial law as above 
mercy. The Samaritan was extraordinarily kind to 
his enemy. 

In the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer, given 
probably in the earlier Perean ministry,^ Jesus 
taught his disciples to pray: 

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass 
against us."'^ 

To this Matthew attaches a logion:^ 

" For if ye forgive men their trespasses, 
Your Father will also forgive you. 
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, 
Neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." 

The love of the Messiah himself is set forth in the 
allegory of the Good Shepherd, given at the feast of 
Dedication. ^^I came that they may have life, and 

I See p. 39. ^Lk. xi. 3; Mt. vi. 12; cf. Mk. xi. 25. 

3 Mt. vi. 14-15. 



CHRIST LIKE LOVE. 119 

may have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. 
The good shepherd layeth down his life for his sheep. 
... I lay down my life for the sheep. . . . Therefore 
doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, 
that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from 
me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority 
to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again. 
This commandment received I from my Father.''^ 

Clearly this was a voluntary relinquishment of life 
in the service and defence of his flock, that exhibited 
the love of the Messiah, and made him the especial 
object of the divine love. It is just this voluntari- 
ness and freedom of holy love which is its glory. 

The principle of forgiveness is set forth in a reply 
to a question of St. Peter^ in connection with the 
blessing of little children. ^^Lord, how oft shall my 
brother sin against me, and I forgive him! Until 
seven times'?'^ Jesus saith unto him: ^'I say not 
unto thee. Until seven times ; but Until seventy times 
seven.'' Luke gives a logion on the same subject in 
connection with the logion as to stumbling. Inas- 
much as Matthew attaches this latter logion to the 
same incident as the question of St. Peter, it is prob- 
able that they were spoken at about the same time on 
the last journey to Jerusalem through Perea. 

"If thy brother sin, rebuke him; 
And if he repent, forgive him; 
And if he sin against thee seven times in the day. 
And seven times turn again unto thee, 
And say, I repent ; thou shalt forgive him." ^ 



1 Jn. X. 10-18. 2Mt. xviii. 21-22. sLk. xvii. 3: Mt. xviii. 15. 



120 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

The passage in Matthew introduces the parable of 
the Unmerciful Servant.^ The king is long-suffer- 
ing, and has bowels of compassion, and forgives ten 
thousand talents to one of his servants.^ This ser- 
vant ought to have followed the example of his-^ 
sovereign, and forgiven his debtor one hundred 
denaries. As his lord tells him, ''Thou oughtest to 
have had pity on thy fellow-servant, even as I had 
pity on thee. ' ' But he did not. He did the reverse. 
He was unpitying, cruel and severe. He shut his 
underservant up in prison until he could pay him 
all. The unmerciful servant is summoned before the 
judgment throne, the forgiveness is recalled, and he 
is dealt with in accordance with the lex talionis, and 
suffers as he made the other man suffer, in accord- 
ance with his deserts. 

On the basis of this story rises the rule, ''So also 
my Father will do to you, if ye forgive not each one 
his brother from your hearts." God will forgive 
only those who forgive. He will deal in accordance 
with the lex talionis with those who appeal to the 
lex talionis. Those who act in accordance with the 
loving God will enjoy His love. Those who insist on 
rights, will have to pay God His dues in righteous 
retribution. 

The parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard,^ on 
the same journey, also illustrates the liberty and the 

J Mt. xviii. 22-35. 

2 An enormous sum, one talent =:: GOOO denaries, ten thousand 
talents = 60 million denaries, 100 denaries = about $15. 

3 Mt. XX. 1-16. 



CHRIST LIKE LOVE. 121 

excess of love. Here several groups of men were 
hired, the one group at the dawn for a full day's 
work, was engaged for a denarius a day. The others 
at different hours were engaged for the sum the em- 
ployer might deem right. He paid them all the same 
sum, whether they worked all day or a half day, or 
only for a few hours. This did not seem equitable to 
those who had worked the whole day through. And 
it would not have been equitable, if the employer had 
undertaken to deal with them all in accordance with 
the value of their services. He did not so undertake. 
He agreed with those first employed for a definite 
sum, one denarius for the day. He paid them that 
sum. He did his duty by them. They received the 
full measure of their rights and no more. He agreed 
with the others to pay them what was right. Some 
of these should have received three quarters of a 
denarius, others half, others one quarter of that sum. 
He would have dealt with them righteously if he had 
paid them no more. But to these he gives more than 
their rightful claim. He makes them gifts in excess 
of their rights, to some more, to some less, as seems 
best to him, making the sum for all up to the full 
price of the day's work. In other words he was just 
to the first group ; he was just and kind to the other 
groups. The first group had no need of his kind- 
ness, for they could earn a full day's wage. The 
others had need of his kindness, because they were 
unable to earn a full day's wage. He required them 
to earn what they could earn, and in kindness made 



122 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

up to them the balance of a full day's work which 
they could not earn for lack of employment. 

We fail to get the full meaning of Jesus' words, 
because of the common use of good as synonymous J 
with just, when it is really synonymous with kind:*^ 
*^Is thine eye evil, because I am good?" is the same 
as saying: ^^Art thou envious, because I am kind?" 
The employer had a right to do what he deemed best 
with his own property. He had a right to be gen- 
erous beyond the dues he paid. But in his gener- 
osity he must be free. There is no love in such a 
case without freedom, no kindness that is not spon- 
taneous, no generosity than can be compelled. 

The principle of love appears in its grandeur in 
the great farewell discourse of Jesus.^ 

Jesus said: ^^A new commandment I give unto 
you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved 
you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all 
men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love 
one to another. ' '^ 

Love of the neighbor is a command of the Holiness 
Code, of the Pentateuch.^ It required love of Chris- 
tians one to another. The newness of this command 
is not therefore in brotherly love as such ; it is in its 
measure, ^'as I have loved you"; a love of self sacri- 
fice in ministry. Christ's love is the new law of loyej 
It is here given as a commandment. In the Synop- 
tists it was given, as in the realm of freedom, beyond 

1 New Hebrew Lexicon B.D.B. my article nm. 

2Jn. xiii.-xv. {Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 288 sq.) 

3 Jn. xiii. 34-35. ^See pp. 156 sq. 



CHBI8TLIKE LOVE. 123 

the scope of the Law. Is there any inconsistency 
here? We observe that Jesns is dealing with broth- 
erly love, not with love to enemies; love between 
brethren, not the love which foregoes rights and 
makes sacrifices for the salvation of men. He is 
dealing with a love which is still in the realm of Law 
according to the Old Testament, and he makes that 
legal relation of love into a new law by making him- 
self the model of it. He enlarges the scope of the 
Law and makes it new, jnst as in his exposition of 
the law of mnrder, he carries it back into the insult- 
ing word and the feeling of anger.^ He teaches here 
as in the Synoptists that love is the snm of the Law, 
the law of laws ; and here he attaches it to himself, 
and so makes the love of himself the new law of 
laws in the realm of Law. That by no means contra- 
dicts the teaching of the Synoptists that love in its 
perfection transcends all Law in the sphere of the 
liberty of the child of God, pursuing counsels of per- 
fection. 

Jesus continued : ^ ^ If ye love me, ye will keep my 
commandments. . . . He that hath my command- 
ments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me : and 
he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and 
I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him. 
. . . If a man love me, he will keep my word: and 
my Father will love him, and we will come unto 
him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth 
me not, keepeth not my words : and the word which 
ye hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me."^ 

iSee pp. 147 sq. 2jn. xiv. 15, 21, 23-24. 



/ 



124 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

The previous passages made the love of Christ 
the law of Christian brotherly love. This passage 
makes Jove to Christ the fundamental principle of .a]l__, 
obedience to the commandments. The comma^d-^ 
ments of Christ, his words, are now exclusively be- 
fore the mind. The laws of the Old Testament are 
entirely out of mind. These commands and words 
are God 's ; the Son has given them from the Father. 
Love to „hiin implies law-keeping. Law-breaking 
implies the absence of all love to him. In the Synop- 
tists all the Law is summed up in love to God, and 
love to the neighbor. Here there is a marked ad- 
vance. All is summed up in one simple principlej 
Jave to Christ. Such a love is rewarded at once in 
this life with the divine indwelling. Father, Son 
and Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity, come to such a 
man and dwell in him. 

^ ^ Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much 
fruit, and so shall ye be my disciples. Even as the 
Father hath loved me, I also have loved you : abide ye 
in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall 
abide in my love ; even as I have kept my Father 's 
commandments, and abide in His love. These things 
have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you, 
and your joy may be full. This is my command- 
ment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved 
you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man 
lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, 
if ye do the things which I command you. . . . These 
things I command you, that ye love one another. ' '^ 

1 Jn. XV. 8-14. 



CHRISTLIKE LOVE. 125 

All this is still in the realm of Law. Love is here 
the crown of the Law. The Father loved the Son 
and the Son abode in the Father's love, because he 
kept the Father's commandments. The disciples 
must keep the commandments of Jesus, if they are to 
abide in his love and be loved by him. Only by keep- 
ing the commands of Jesus can they continue to be 
his friends. He has laid down his life for them as 
the greatest token of his love. They cannot have a 
greater love. It is worth their while to retain that 
love and friendship by keeping his commands. The 
command, which twice more he reiterates is, that his 
disciples shall love one ainother as he loved them. 

Jesus, in. this discourse, has his own disciples in 
mind, and not the outer world. He is inculcating 
brotherly love among Christians, and not the self- 
sacrificing love of the Christian in relation to the 
outer world. Thus his law of love seems to fall 
short of the liberty of love of the Synoptists. And 
undoubtedly it does, if we consider it in its compre- 
hension. The love of God, towards the law-breaker 
and the law-keeper alike, is much grander than His 
love to those only who keep his commands. The 
love of Jesus to his murderers rises higher than his 
love to those who keep his commands. The ex- 
hortation to love your enemies is vastly more sub- 
lime than the command to love your Christian 
brethren. And yet, that Jesus in this discourse 
limits himself to the narrower sphere of the disciples 
and the realm of Law, has its advantages. For in 



126 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

one respect, the Gospel of John rises higher in its 
conception of the Law than the Synoptists. It 
makes love to Jesns the one thing in which all law 
keeping is summed up, and it makes the love of J 
the law of all conduct to Christian brethren^ The 
Old Testament Law has disappeared in the Law of 
Christ. 

The reconciliation of the Synoptists with this 
Gospel may be found in this, that the love of 
Christ is the law of laws, so far as the obedience to 
law is concerned : but it is also the supreme principle 
of the freedom of sonship beyond the sphere of Law ; 
for he who would pursue the counsels of perfection 
will not only love within the boundaries of Law and 
right and duty, but will also be Godlike and Christ- 
like in his love to the world, to enemies, to wicked 
men; and in all those relations where Law and right 
and duty do not call. 

This kind of supererogatory love we have seen in 
the love of the Good Shepherd. The author of our 
Gospel sees its highest expression in God, who ''so 
loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, 
but have everlasting life.''^ 

iJn. iii. 16. 



X. 

Casuistry. 

Casuistry arises from a conflict of duties. Cases 
of conscience arise out of the application of Law to 
conduct. The legal attitude of mind seeks to deter- 
mine these questions by a logical unfolding of Law. 
It thus increases exactions and obligations, and 
makes the Law more complex and difficult. While it 
solves some questions, it originates many more. It 
constantly increases the number of difficulties, and 
the Law becomes an intolerable yoke, and life is made 
miserable ; as St. Peter said to the Council of Jeru- 
salem: ^^Now therefore why tempt ye God, that ye 
should put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, 
which neither our fathers, nor we, were able to 
bearf^'i So St. Paul says: ^'By the works of the 
Law shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for 
through the Law cometh the knowledge of sin."^ 

Jesus in his teaching so emphasized the principle 
of love in his own conduct and that of his disciples, 
making love rather than Law, the guiding principle 
of life; that there inevitably arose questions of 
casuistry, especially where Law and Love seemed to 
come in conflict. 

Casuistry begins in the teaching of Jesus in con- 
nection with the law of the Sabbath. This law had 



Acts XV. 10. 2 Rom. iii. 20. 

127 



128 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

been so sharpened and elaborated by rabbinical punc- 
tiliousness that it had become, not only a distinctive 
mark of a true Israelite, but also a badge of the 
Pharisaic party. Jesus, in no instance, violates the^ 
law of the Sabbath, or justifies any such violation; 
but he came into constant conflict with the Pharisaic 
interpretation and application of the law to specific 
acts. One might think that it would have been more 
prudent for Jesus to have avoided antagonizing the 
Pharisees at this their most sensitive point ; or at least 
that he might have avoided pressing so frequently 
this sore question upon them. But a careful con- 
sideration shows that this conflict was unavoidable, 
and that he could not prevent its frequent recurrence. 
The Pharisees had so interpreted the Sabbath law as 
to make it conflict with the practice of love. Jesus 
and his disciples could not live a life of love, with- 
out a conflict with Pharisaism of ever-increasing 
sharpness. The questions of conscience as to the 
Sabbath were decided one way by the Pharisaic 
Hcdacha, in a reverse way by the divine love of 
Jesus and his disciples. 

Casuistry begins on the Sabbath after the first 
Passover of Jesus' ministry.^ The disciples of 
Jesus, passing through the grain fields on the Sab- 
bath, pluck the ripe ears, and rub out the grains, and 
eat them to satisfy their hunger.^ This was not re- 
garded as trespass in the East, in the time of Jesus ; 

1 'New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 13 sq. 
2Mk. ii. 23-28; Mt. xii. 1-8; Lk. vi. 1-5. 



CASUISTRY, 129 

and it is not so regarded at the present time. Even 
horses are sometimes permitted to graze when horse- 
men ride through the grain fields. The Pharisees 
objected to the conduct of the disciples, because it 
was a violation of the Sabbath law. The violation 
was not in the eating, but in the labour of plucking 
and rubbing out the grain. Jesus justifies his dis- 
ciples. He is dealing, not with the Sabbath law 
itself, but with a specific application of the Sabbath 
law to a particular case. That the Sabbath law pro- 
hibits labour is evident from the fourth of the Ten 
Words^ and other passages in the Law. But nowhere 
in the Old Testament can one find any such case as 
the prohibiting on the Sabbath of the plucking of 
grain to eat. The Pharisees insisted that their tradi- 
tional application of the Sabbath law was binding, 
and that the disciples of Jesus had violated the Sab- 
bath. Jesus does not take time to challenge their 
specific interpretation. He prefers to raise the ques- 
tion between a higher and a lower law. Granting for 
a moment that the disciples had technically broken 
the Sabbath; yet they were hungry, and the satisfac- 
tion of their hunger was of more importance ethically 
than the keeping of the Sabbath. He justifies this 
by an historical reference to the case of David's vio- 
lation of the priestly law. The law of the Priest 
code is^ that only the priest should eat the shew- 
bread; and yet,^ David ate it. He violated the 
priestly law because he and his men were hungry. 

lEx. XX. 8-11; Dt. v. 12-15. 2 Lv. xxiv. 9. '1 Sam. xxi. 4-6. 
9 



130 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

He regarded the relief of the hunger of his men and 
himself as of more importance than the reservation 
of the holy bread for the priests. Jesus justifies 
David, and justifies his own disciples. The Sabbaii^-^ 
law and the laws of consecrated things must yield to 
the law of kindness and the principle of love. 

The second case under the Sabbath law is the 
action of Jesus himself.^ The Pharisees complained 
that Jesus violated the Sabbath by healing the man 
with the withered hand. All that was done by Jesus, 
according to the story, was commanding the sick man 
to stand forth, and then to stretch out his hand. The 
man stood forth and stretched out his hand, and he 
was healed. Nothing could be simpler. It is diffi- 
cult to see any kind of work in this. Jesus justified 
himself by saying : 

" Is it more lawful on the Sabbath, 
To do good, or to do harm; 
To save a life or to kill? " 

The saving of life, the doing a good deed, is the 
doing that which is ethically right. The doing of an 
injury, the destruction of life is the doing wrong. 
When this alternative is presented on the Sabbath, 
and to save life requires labour and to destroy it re- 
quires no labour, shall a man do wrong because it is 
the Sabbath day? The law of observance of the Sab- 
bath must yield to the higher principle of restoring 
from an injury, of saving life. 

Jesus does not in these passages come in conflict 

iMk. ill. 1-6 J Mt. xii. 9-14; Lk. vi. 6-11. 



CASUISTRY. 131 

witli the importance of sacred times and consecrated 
things, even ethically. But he makes human suffer- 
ing and peril to life worse ethically, than violation 
of the Sahbath ; and the removal of suffering, and the 
salvation of life he makes more important than the 
observance of the Sabbath, and the hallowing of 
sacred things. Man is more sacred than any, or all, 
sacred things. 

What indeed was Jesus to do under these circum- 
stances I The withered man was before him. He 
had the power to cure him. His love impelled him 
to cure. Was he to refrain because of Pharisaic 
scruples 1 He was in a dilemma, it is true. He must 
offend the Pharisees and bring reproach and hos- 
tility upon himself; or he must offend against divine 
love. Jesus does not hesitate. He loves and he 
cures in love, and he takes the consequences. 

At the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem, Jesus 
heals an infirm man at the Pool of Bethesda on the 
Sabbath.^ In this case he commands the man: 
^' Arise, take up thy bed, and walk." The bed was 
simply the mat-like bed of the times, and not any- 
thing difficult or laborious to carry. The Pharisees 
objected: ^^It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful 
for thee to take up thy bed. ' ' When they found out 
that it was Jesus who had commanded him to do this, 
they ^^ persecuted" him, ^'because he did these things 
on the Sabbath." Jesus justifies himself by saying: 
<'My Father worketh even until now, and I work." 

1 Jn. V. 1-9. 



132 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

He, as the Father's son, worketh on as the Father 
works on. The Sabbath was God's rest day after 
the creation;^ and yet God did not cease to work. J 
He continued to work His works of providence^and^ 
redemption right on from the creation nntil now. So 
Jesus works the works of God, as God's own Son, on 
the Sabbath as on other days. The Sabbath law 
against works must yield to the Son's redemptive 
activity, as it yields to divine activity in redemption. 
The Jews sought to kill Jesus for two reasons, 
according to the second author of the Gospel: (1) 
because be broke the Sabbath; (2) because he made 
himself equal with God. In neither was he at fault. 
He did not say that he was equal with God. He said 
that he was the Father 's own son, and that he worked 
the works the Father sent him to work ; the same kind 
of redemptive works that the Father has never ceased 
working on the Sabbath and on all days since the 
creation. 

Soon after, referring to the same healing, Jesus 
said:^ *^If a man receiveth circumcision on the Sab- 
bath, that the law of Moses may not Be broken; are 
ye wroth with me, because I made a man every whit 
whole on the Sabbath?" The initial ceremony of 
circumcision was more important than the observ- 
ance of the Sabbath. The Sabbath must be broken 
by such labour as may be necessary for the purposes 
of circumcision. Then still more may it be broken 
for the higher purposes of love, such as healing the 

1 Gen. ii. 1-3. ^ jn. vii. 22-23. 



CASUISTRY. 133 

sick. In all law, the lower must yield to the higher. 

In the Perean ministry Jesus healed a woman on 
the Sabbath. ''He laid his hands upon her; and 
immediately she was made straight, and glorified 
God/'^ The ruler of the Synagogue said: ''There 
are six days in which men ought to work: in them 
therefore come and be healed, and not on the day of 
the Sabbath. But the Lord answered him, and said : 
' Ye hypocrites, doth not each one of you on the Sab- 
bath loose his ox, or his ass, from the stall, and lead 
him away to watering! And ought not this woman, 
being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath 
bound, lo, eighteen years, to have been loosed from 
this bond on the day of the Sabbath ! ' ' ' 

Labour of mercy to animals or men is lawful. It 
may violate the Sabbath; but doing mercy is more 
important than the keeping of the Sabbath, and the 
lower must always yield to the higher. 

A short time afterwards Jesus took a man with 
the dropsy, and healed him on the Sabbath and let 
him go,^ and said, justifying his act: "Which of you 
shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well, and will 
not straightway draw him up on a Sabbath dayT' 
This involves the same higher law of mercy.^ 

iLk. xiii. 10-17. 2Lk. xiv. 1-11. 

* It is also noteworthy that it is not regarded by the Pharisees, or 
Jesus as a violation of the Sabbath, that he, and a sufficient num- 
ber to make a choice of chief seats necessary, were invited to a 
feast at the house of a Pharisee on the Sabbath. Attendance at a 
large dinner-party in modern times has sometimes been regarded as 
a violation of the Sabbath, owing to a rigorous interpretation of 
the Sabbath law of the Old Testament, contrary to this precedent 
in which there is an agreement of the Pharisees and Jesus. 



134 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JE8U8. 

The most serious case was at the feast of Dedica- 
tion in Jerusalem, when Jesus healed the blind man.^ 
Some Pharisees said: ^^This man is not from God, 
because he keepeth not the Sabbath. ' ^ Jesus hadre;^ 
stored sight to the man bom blind. In this case it 
would seem that he did unnecessary labour. He 
spat on the ground, made clay of the spittle, anointed 
the man's eyes with the clay, and sent him to wash 
in the pool of Siloam. Ordinarily he wrought 
miracles by a word or a touch. He does not explain 
here, or elsewhere the method of his miracles. If he 
used unusual means, and bade the man do unneces- 
sary labour, it might be said that he came into con- 
flict with the law of the Sabbath without sufficient 
reason. But if he deemed all these things important 
for the redemptive purposes of the cure, they came 
within the sphere where the lower must yield to the 
higher. Indeed it might be said, as it would be said 
by all in our day, that any or all labour required to 
heal a sick man is justifiable even with the strictest 
rules of Sabbath observance. And if Jesus meant 
to teach no more than this, in addition to making 
the cure itself, the object lesson was a sufficient 
justification of the unusual mode of working the 
miracle. 

Another question of casuistry arose between Jesus 
and the Pharisees under the laws of Purification. 
Luke gives an account of the Pharisees objecting to 
Jesus' conduct, because he did not use ceremonial 

1 Jn. ix. 



CASUISTRY. 135 

baptism before eating.^ In Matthew the Pharisees 
call Jesus' attention to the neglect of certain cere- 
monial baptisms on the part of his disciples. They 
had eaten a meal, ^^with common hands. ''^ This is 
explained as ^^ unwashed.'' This washing of the 
hands was not a requirement of the Law, but a tradi- 
tion of the elders. It was not a washing to cleanse 
the hands, but for ceremonial purification. The bap- 
tisms, or ceremonial purifications of the Law, are 
given in the priestly legislation of the Pentateuch. 
But these precepts were unfolded in the traditional 
applications of ceremonial customs ; and these tradi- 
tional applications became a traditional Law, which 
was regarded as obligatory no less than the written 
Law. 

Jesus defends his disciples for their violation of 
the traditional Law, and charges the Pharisaic law- 
yers in the words of the prophet Isaiah:^ ^^Well did 
Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 

* This people honoureth me with their lips, 
But their heart is far from mie. 
But in vain do they worship me, 
Teaching (as their) doctrines the precepts of men.' 

* Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the 
tradition of men. ' And he said unto them, ^ Pull well 
do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may 
keep your tradition. ' ' '^ The traditional Law was not 

iLk. xi. 37-41; Mk. vii. 1-23; Mt. xv. 1-20 give the same dis- 
cussion in connection with his disciples in the last weeks of the 
Galilean ministry. See ISfeio Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 69, 84-5. 

2Mk. vii. 2. 8 Is. xxix. 13. *Mk. vii. 6-9. 



136 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESVS. 

always a legitimate interpretation and application 
of the Pentateuchal Law. In some cases it came in 
conflict with it and violated it. There is a constant 
tendency in tradition to make void and nullify older 
Law. 

Jesus gives a case to justify his statement. This 
case is one of the most important and practical that 
could be selected, namely the fifth of the Ten Words, 
the fundamental parental law.^ 

* * Honour thy father and thy mother. ' ' 
This is the simple and original law. Jesus does 
not give the motive of the law, which is contained in 
the Deuteronomic and priestly redaction, namely 
^^that thy days may be long (and that it may go 
well with thee), upon the land which Yahweh thy 
God giveth thee."^ But, instead, he cites from the 
covenant code,^ ^* Whosoever curseth his father, or 
his mother, shall be put to a violent death." The 
same law recurs in the Holiness Code.^ Over against 
these fundamental parental laws, the traditional law 
said:^ *^If a man shall say to his father or his 
mother. That wherewith thou mightest have been 
profited by me is Corban, that is to say : Given, ye no 
longer suffer him to do aught for this father or his. 
mother. ' '^ 



' According to Mark, Moses said it; according to Matthew, God 
said it. It is probable that Matthew generalizes, 

2 Ex. XX. 12; Dt. v. 16. a Ex. xxi. 17. * Lv. xx. 9. 

5Mk. vii. 11-12; comp. Mt. xv. 5-6. 

* Mark gives the original iwp^dv and then translates it Soypov. Mat- 
thew gives only 6(bpov. KopjSav is the Plebrew pnp according to usage, 
in the Priest's code, applied to offerings of money or goods to God. 
The Aramaic form is ]n*Tip. 



CAsmsTBY. 137 

The Law required the positive honour, and the 
doing of whatever honour requires ; namely, the sup- 
port of weak and poor parents by their children. 
The Law prohibited the reverse; cursing or dishon- 
ouring. Jesus conceived that parents were dishon- 
oured when their children refused them what was due 
them of sustenance. But the traditional law excused 
from the obligation to sustain parents, if the ex- 
penditure was instead consecrated to ritualistic wor- 
ship. Jesus and the Pharisees here came in conflict 
as to the relative importance of the ceremonial wor- 
ship and the parental law. Which is the higher? 
Doubtless the Pharisee would have acknowledged 
that the letter of the written law was more important 
than the unwritten traditional law. But the case that 
Jesus gives involves an interpretation of the written 
law. The written law says: ^^Thou shalt honour '' 
— ^^Thou shalt not curse.'' Jesus gives the legiti- 
mate deduction: Thou shalt honour and not curse, 
by giving parents their proper support. The Phari- 
sees regarded the support of the worship of God as 
of more importance than the support of parents. 
This question of relative importance Jesus decides 
in favour of duties to parents. 

Jesus discussed the question of divorce with the 
Pharisees and his disciples.^ The Pharisees asked 
him : ^ ^ Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife ? ' ' 
Jesus answered: ^'What did Moses command you?" 
The Law determines what is lawful. They said: 

iMk. X. 2-12; Mt. xix. 3-12; also Mt. v. 31-32; Lk. xvi. 18. 



138 TEE ETHICAL TEACEIXG OF JESUS. 

** Moses snffered to write a bill of divorcement and 
pnt her away.''^ ^'VTken a man taketh a wife, and 
marrieth. her, then it shall be, if she find no favonr 
in his eyes, becanse he hath fonnd some unseemly 
thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce^ 
ment, and give it in her hand, and send her ont of his 
honse. And when she is departed out of his honse, 
she may go and become another man's wife.'' 

This law was varionsly interpreted by the Phari- 
sees as to the gronnd of divorce : some being stricter 
than others in their explanation of the phrase ''un- 
seemly thing*'; bnt in other respects the law was 
jjlain enongh and agreed to by alL Jesus now states 
Ms oxjinion: "For your hardness of heart he wrote 
yon this commandment. Bnt from the beginning of 
the creation, male and female made he them. For 
this canse shall a man leave his father and mother, 
and shall cleave to his wife ; and the twain shall be- 
come one flesh : so that they are no more twain, bnt 
one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, 
let not man pnt asnnder."- 

This argnment is in the form of a Ealacha^ Jesns 
shows that the original principle of marriage had to 
be broken in a measnre by the Deuteronomic provis- 
ion for divorce, becanse of circnmstances which 
made it impracticable to enforce the original ideaL 
Jesns reasserts the original ideal as a restriction 
upon the law of divorce ; thus urging that it shonld 
not be nsed except in the highest necessity, and better 

1 Dt. xxiv. 1-2. 2 Jn. i. 27; ii. 24. ^See pp. 25 sq. 



I 



CASVISTET. 139 

not at all. Here Jesus recognizes the principle of 
casnistry in the Denteronomic Law ; and therefore in 
the nse of all law. He does not set up a new law to 
abrogate the law of Deuteronomy : but he appeals to 
the original principle in Genesis and recognizes that 
it permits of no divorce at all; and urges that that 
principle be followed rather than the permission 
of divorce, as the context implies, so far as prac- 
ticable, unless such '' hardness of heart '^ continue 
as to make the Deuteronomic provision temporarily 
expedient. 

It is altogether improper to interpret Jesus here 
as abrogating the law of divorce, and making a law 
against divorce; he is asserting essentially the prin- 
ciple of casuistry, which recognized divorce as per- 
missible only because of hardness of heart ; and not 
to be justified in itself. In other words divorce in 
any case involves the sin of hardness of heart in any 
one who takes advantage of the concession of the 
Law. 

This argument could not be challenged, and yet 
it involved grave practical difficulties to which Jesus ' 
attention was called by his disciples. In response 
Jesus gave a logion, which appears in different ver- 
sions in the several Gospels. The original was 
doubtless this : 

" Whosoever putteth away his wife committetli adultery. 
Whosoever putteth away her husband committeth adultery.'^ 

This is as much as to say that marriage should 
be indissoluble, and that whoever dissolves it is 



140 TBB ETHICAL TEACHING OF JE8US. 

guilty of adultery, whether man or woman. Here 
Jesus does not think merely of the physical act of 
adultery; but goes back of it to the more internal 
spiritual relations ; and regards the separation itselt 
as adulterous, without regard to any adulterous act, 
and even if no such act had been committed. In 
fact he regards the ^'hardness of heart'' which found 
in the spouse ^Hhe unseemly thing'' and used it as 
a justification of divorce, as in itself already adultery. 
This is on the same principle that he uses elsewhere 
when he interprets adultery as in the glance of the 
eye, without regard to its consequences in act.^ 

The several evangelists and St. Paul give various 
qualifications of this logion in the nature of interpre- 
tations and practical applications, recognizing that 
Jesus had in mind the principle of casuistry and 
the hardness of the hearts of even his own disciples ; 
and that it might still be necessary to commit the 
lesser sin of adultery by divorce, rather than other 
and greater sins of adultery in other ways. Thus 
Matthew^ inserts the clause * ^ except for fornication. ' ' 
It is probable that this is to be interpreted of fornica- 
tion before marriage, which was not discovered until 
after marriage; for if the sin had been committed 
after marriage, it would have been adultery and not 
fornication. The other explanatory statements en- 
deavor to bring the adultery of the divorce itself into 
connection with the act of real adultery: by remar- 
riage,^ and causing the woman to commit adultery by 

1 Mt. V. 28. 2 Mt. V. 32; xix. 9. 3 Mk. x. 11-12; Lk. xvi. 18. 



CASUISTRY. 141 

constraining her to take another man; or hy a man's 
entering into marriage with a divorced woman.^ 
None of these was in the original logion, but all 
were situations which arose practically as the re- 
sults of divorce. St. Paul also gives his own inter- 
pretation to this logion, 2 advising that when a Chris- 
tian and an unbeliever are married, they should not 
separate ; but ^ ' if the unbelieving departeth, let him 
depart: the brother or the sister is not under bond- 
age in such cases. ^' This is a case where one party 
insists upon divorce. The other cannot prevent it. 
The innocent party is not under bondage ; that is, is 
released from the marriage tie by the divorce made 
by the guilty party. 

Thus the Gospel of Matthew gives us one excep- 
tion, fornication; St. Paul another, abandonment; 
which qualify the logion of Jesus, and make divorce 
justifiable, under these circumstances. This can 
only be explained on the same principle that Jesus 
used to explain the Deuteronomic law of divorce; 
namely that the ideal of the indissolubility of the 
marriage tie cannot always be enforced, owing to the 
hardness of men's hearts; that if one of the parties 
breaks the tie, the other cannot longer be held in 
bondage to it, and that there is a kind of sin which 
in itself, in its very nature, dissolves the union. ^ 

As St. Paul says, the innocent party is not in bond- 



1 Lk. xvi. 18. 2 1 Cor. vii. 8-16. 

3 See also General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, 
pp. 86-88. 



142 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

age. So we may say, Jesus did not put the Churcli 
or tlie State in bondage. He did not give a new law ; 
but be gave an advice, a counsel, as to the perfect 
state of marriage, which should be held up as anr 
ideal by all his followers; but which cannot always 
be attained in that state of society which now exists. 
All attempts to force this ideal upon a society, 
whose ethical and religious character is so justly de- 
scribed as ^^ hardness of heart, '^ bring forth many 
more evils than they cure. 



1 



XI. 

The Law. 

Jesus did not come to interpret and apply the Law 
of the Old Testament as another and higher scribe 
of the type of Ezra and his successors. He did not 
come to give a new Law in place of the Law of Moses. 
He came to preach the kingdom of God, and to teach 
its great principle of divine Love. He was led to 
discuss the Law as an ethical principle only because 
the Pharisee lawyers charged him with violating the 
Law in his teaching as to love and as to questions of 
casuistry. It is not likely therefore that the dis- 
cussion as to Law came so early as the Sermon on 
the Mount, where Matthew gives it. It belongs 
rather to the Perean ministry where just such dis- 
cussions appear in the narrative of Luke. This dis- 
cussion is cited from the Logia of Matthew. It was 
not given by Luke because the question of the Law 
had no importance to the Eoman community for 
which he prepared his Gospel. It is evident that 
this discourse is a rejoinder to Pharisees who 
charged him with violating the Law and teaching his 
disciples to violate it. Accordingly he says: 

^' Think not that I came to destroy the Law (or the 
Prophets) ; I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For 
verily (I say unto you), Till heaven and earth pass 
away, one jot (or one tittle) shall in tXQ wisQ 

143 



144 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

pass away from the Law, till all things be accom- 
plished. ' '^ 

Lnke^ gives a parallel to this in another connection 
in the Perean ministry : ' ' The Law and the Prophets^^ 
were until John: from that time the kingdom of 
God is preached, as good tidings, and everyone en- 
tereth violently into it. But it is easier for heaven 
and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the law 
to fall." 

Matthew^ gives a parallel to Luke in another con- 
nection when John the Baptist sends messengers to 
Jesus: ^^And from the days of John the Baptist 
until now the kingdom (of heaven) suffereth vio- 
lence, and men of violence take it by force. For all 
the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John/' 
This is omitted in the parallel of Luke.^ 

It seems altogether probable therefore that we 
have to do with detached sayings of Jesus, and that 
Matthew gives two parallel sayings, spoken on dif- 
ferent occasions. They should be considered there- 
fore as detached sayings. 

The original of the first of these was probably : 

" I came not to break the Law, 
But on the contrary to fulfil the Law." 

The other words are interpretative additions. 
Jesus' purpose was not to break the Law, but to 
obey it ; not to teach his disciples to violate the Law, 
but to teach them to obey it. The antithesis is be- 
tween violation and obedience. He regards the Law 

iMt. V. 17-18. 2Lk. xvi. 16-17. » Mt. xi. 12-13. * Lk. vii. 18-35. 



TEE LAW. 145 

of the Old Testament in its entirety as an ethical 
norm. 

The parallel verse was probably originally: 

" Until heaven and earth pass away, 
One Jot shall not pass away from the Law." ^ 

In other words the Law is world-long ; it will never 
be done away with. This word, uttered on another 
occasion, intensifies the previous word, by giving a 
temporal reference to the fulfilment. 

Other logia are now given, which seem to have ac- 
companied and explained it. The first of these was : 

" Whosoever shall break the least commandment. 
And teach men to break it, 
Shall be called least in the kingdom of God. 

Whosoever shall do the least commandment. 

And teach men to do it, 

Shall be called greatest in the kingdom of God." 

Two things are emphasized, doing and teaching. 
But they are united as an ethical pair. Even the 
least command should be obeyed and not violated. 
A violation of the least command of the Law makes 
the teacher least in the kingdom. He who would be 
greatest in the kingdom, must obey and teach the 
least. The relative rank in the kingdom of God de- 
pends upon the degree of obedience to the commands 
of the Law. 

Jesus selects two of the Ten Words i^ the law 
against murder, and the law against adultery. 

1 The ioiTa is an interpretation suitable for the Greek reader. The 
final clause is an enlargement. 
2Mt. V. 21 sq. 
10 



146 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

I. The law of murder. 

Jesus said: ''Ye have heard that it was said to 
them of old time, Thou shalt not kill ; and whosoever 
shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment." 
Here we have, not only the law against murder in 
the Ten Words,^ but also the judicial determination 
of a case. This is considered in the Covenant Code.^ 

''Whoso smiteth a man and he die, shall be put to 
a violent death. But as for the one who hath not 
hunted after him, but God hath caused him to fall 
into his hands, I will appoint thee a place whither he 
may flee. But if a man act passionately against his 
neighbor to slay him by craft; from my altar thou 
shalt take him to die. ' ' So in the code of Holiness : 

* ' A man, when he smiteth any human person shall 
be put to a violent death. "^ 

The case where the man does not hunt for the one 
killed is given in the Deuteronomic code^ "without 
knowledge, he not hating him yesterday and the day 
before''; and in the Priest's Code^ "if accidentally, 
without enmity he push or cast any vessel upon him 
without intent." The case of intentional murder is 
an act of violent passion and of craft. In the 
Deuteronomic code^ it is " if there be any man hating 
his neighbor, and he lie in wait for him and rise up 
against him and smite a person and he die." In the 
Priest's code"^ "if in hatred he push him or cast any- 

lEx. XX. 13; Dt. v. 17. « Ex. xxi. 12-14. 

3Lv. xxiv. 17; Code of H., that section of the Priestly legislation 
which is characterized by the stress it lays on Holiness. See Higher 
Criticism of the Hexateuch, p. 129. 

*Dt. xix. 4. 5Nu. XXXV. 22. e Dt. xix. 11. ''Nu. xxxv. 20-21. 



I 



THE LAW. 147 

thing upon him designedly, so that he died ; or if in 
enmity he hath smitten him with his hand, so that 
he died." 

In preexilic Judaism there were cities of refuge, 
and judges to decide these cases. In postexilic 
Judaism it was a question to come before the courts 
of justice. Jesus is thus not only dealing with the 
original Word of the Ten Words, but with its tradi- 
tional enforcement. He sets his unfolding of the 
law over against the traditional interpretation.^ 

"Whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of 
the judgment. 
Whosoever shall say, ' Raca ' shall be in danger of the council. 
Whosoever shall say, ^ Thou fool ! ' shall be in danger of 
Gehenna." 

The Codes recognized the distinction between mur- 
der from hatred and enmity, and murder without in- 
tent, showing that murder has its essential guilt in 
the anger that urges to the deed. But they did not 
recognize that anger was punishable unless it re- 
sulted in murder. Here Jesus raises the feeling of 
anger to the height of guilt under the law of murder. 
The murderous disposition is to be condemned as 
well as the murderous act, and especially when ex- 
pressed in the words ^^Raca'' and "Fool."^ 

These words would provoke strife and so might 
lead to the act of murder. It is the murderous word 

1 Mt. v. 22. 

2xpn Aramaic emphatic, is equivalent to pn Hebrew; cf. D'C>3« 
D'pn; Ju. ix. 4, xi. 3, vain, light worthless fellows, hii is the impudent 
fool of Ps. xiv. 1. "To his brother" in the second line and "of 
fire" in the third line are explanatory additions. 



148 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

that Jesus has in mind. Accordingly he extends the 
law of mnrder so as to cover disposition and word, 
as well as deed. He shows however, a gradation of 
guilt. The disposition of anger is not so guilty-as^ 
the word; therefore it is to be condemned by the 
local court. The word ^'Baca^^ is more guilty, 
and is to be condemned by the higher court, the 
national sanhedrim. The word ^^fool" is still more 
guilty, and is to be condemned by the divine judg- 
ment which consigns to Gehenna. Of course the 
deed of murder is still more guilty, but Jesus does 
not descend to that depth. 

What now shall we say to this enlargement of the 
law of murder by Jesus himself. He starts with the 
feeling of anger in the heart, which unfolds into the 
murderous word and deed; this is the antithesis to 
love, which covers all duties to the neighbor. But 
are these commands of an absolute character? Is 
anger always unlawful f May we never call anyone 
an empty pate, or a fool ? Jesus himself used worse 
words than these in addressing the Pharisees, if we 
can rely upon the statements of the Gospels. He 
calls them fools, and blind, using the same word he 
condemns here as incurring the liability of Gehenna. 
He calls them hypocrites, blind guides, serpents, 
vipers by birth, and tells them they are doomed to 
Gehenna.^ Jesus was also angry, Mark narrates i^ 
^'when he had looked round about on them with 
anger, being grieved at the hardening of their 

1 See pp. 185 sq. 2 Mk. iii. 5. 



TEE LAW. 149 

heart/' Was lie guilty of violating his own com- 
mands ? Can Jesus do with impunity what he forbids 
his disciples to do! Is there one law of ethics for 
Jesus and another for us 1 That cannot be, unless he 
ceases to be our ethical norm; and that would be to 
destroy the fundamental principle of New Testament 
Ethics. 

We are obliged again to consider that all ethical 
laws are relative, and that no one of them can be com- 
plete in itself. We have to appeal from them at 
times to the higher and the highest norm. There is 
a peril in too close adherence to any mere precept, or 
legal phrase. 

There are times and circumstances under which it 
is lawful to kill. God kills men in great wrath. He 
is not guilty.^ He is ethically perfect when He does 
so; because it is right to kill the wicked that they 
may not destroy the moral order of society. It is 
lawful for the State to kill, when men disobey Law. 
The divine laws attach the death penalty to many 
crimes and sins. It is lawful to kill in war. It has 
always been recognized as lawful to kill in self-de- 
fence, and to protect innocence and virtue. 

Jesus is dealing with unlawful, wicked killing, 
which alone can be called murder. If it is law- 
ful to kill, it is also lawful to be angry. There 
is holy anger in the Christian as well as in Christ. 
**The wrath of the Lamb" is the most dreadful 
conception of the Apocalypse.^ There are times 

1 See p. 199 sq. 2 Rev. vi. 16. 



150 TEE ETHICAL TE AGEING OF JESUS, 

when holy anger should blaze against wickedness; 
and men are most like Jesus when they are on fire 
against the Pharisees of their time. Jesus is here 
exposing wicked anger, unjustifiable anger; ^nti 
asserting that murderous anger is wicked, even if it 
never take shape in the criminal deed. 

So still more it is right at times to call things by 
their right names, and to expose the emptiness and 
folly of men. There is a wicked calling of names; 
and there is a righteous calling of names. There is a 
calling of names, which is killing and murderous; 
and there is a calling of names in the full sense of 
responsibility in the presence of the righteous God. 
The teaching of Jesus here is that the law of murder 
reaches back of the deed into the word, and back of 
the word into the heart ; and that the guilt of murder 
lies fundamentally in the angry heart of man. 

At the same time we have to consider that anger is 
serious; and we should beware lest it be sinful and 
murderous. The calling of names is perilous; and 
we should beware lest we do it in a wicked, unchris- 
tian and murderous spirit. The test of all is holy 
love. That anger, and that calling of names, and 
that killing, which can be reconciled with holy love 
is righteous; that which cannot be so reconciled is 
sinful. This was evidently in the mind of Jesus, 
from his reduction of murder to anger, the anti- 
thesis to holy love. And it is clear in the illustra- 
tions which follow, whether used on this occasion or 
not. The first of these is a command to be recon- 



I 



TEE LAW. 151 

ciled to one's brother.^ This is more important 
ethically than the offering of sacrifice. The restora- 
tion of loving relations between men is to be sought 
first. That is primary : worship is secondary. Such 
a reconciliation may not be possible, but it is the duty 
of a man to seek it. The context of the second of 
these illustrations is better in Luke, and this may 
give us the real occasion of this discourse.^ 

'* As thou art going with thine adversary before the magistrate, 
On the way give dihgence to be quit of him: 
Lest haply he drag thee unto the judge. 
And the judge deliver thee to the officer. 
And the officer cast thee into prison. 
Thou shalt by no means come out thence. 
Till thou hast paid the last mite." 

The teaching here is : If there is a just claim, settle 
it, and do not wait for the penalty ; settle it with the 
one to whom it is due, and do not go through a judi- 
cial process which will eventually make you pay 
dearly. 

II. The law against adultery. 

This law is the seventh Word of the Tables.^ Here 
Jesus limits himself to that word. He interprets 
this law in the same way as the other. Adultery is 
not only in act, but also in disposition. He does not 
speak of the emotion, or the word here as in the pre- 
vious illustration, but of the eye.^ He might have 
spoken of the murderous look, the killing glance, in 
the previous illustration. But he is not giving a 

1 Mt. V. 23-24. 2 Mt. v. 25-26 ; Lk. xii. 58-59. 

3 Ex. XX. 14; Dt. v. 18. * Mt. v. 27-28. 



152 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

complete statement in either case. Murderous anger 
and word do not exclude the murderous eye, in the 
previous command. So the adulterous glance does 
not exclude the guilt of the adulterous word, or the'^ 
adulterous desire. Jesus in his interpretation of the 
two laws gives some phases of violation in the one 
case, others in the other case, but all phases are 
applicable to both cases and indeed all cases. 

" Everyone that looketh on a woman to lust after her, 
Hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." ^ 

This same conception is found in Job.^ 

"I have made a covenant for mine eye, 
How then could I attentively consider a maiden ? " 

III. The law of oaths. 

Jesus next considers the law respecting oaths :^ 
*^ Again, ye have heard that it was said to them of 
old time. Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt 
perform unto the Lord thine oaths. ' ' The Old Testa- 
ment laws are: 



1 



J Matthew appends to the interpretation of this command two 
logia, already considered as belonging to other circumstances. These 
circumstances probably gave the occasion for this discussion. ( 1 ) 
Mt. V. 29-30; Mk. ix. 43-48; Mt. xviii. 8-9; see p. 92. (2) Mt. v. 
31-32; Lk. xvi. 18; Mk. x. 1-12; Mt. xix. 1-12; see p. 137 sq. 
Matthew's connection gives an application of the words of Jesus, 
under other circumstances, to the law against adultery. The appli- 
cation is that of our Gospel of Matthew, and not that of Jesus; and 
yet it is entirely proper. The adulterous eye suggests the command 
to put out the eye, rather than let it cast us into Gehenna by 
adulterous glances. The warning against adultery suggests the 
logion of Jesus, where he represents that any divorce whatever is 
adultery. 

2Jobxxxi. 1. 3Mt. V. 33-37. 



THE LAW. 153 

" And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, so that thou pro- 
fane the name of thy God." ^ 

" When a man voweth a vow unto Yahweh, or sweareth an oath 
to bind himself with a bond, he shall not profane his word; 
he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his 
mouth." ' 

" When thou vowest a vow unto Yahweh thy God, thou shalt not 
be slack to pay it : for Yahweh thy God will surely require 
it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. But if thou shalt 
forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. That which is 
gone out of thy lips thou shalt observe and do; according 
as thou hast vowed unto Yahweh thy God, a freewill offer- 
ing, which thou hast promised with thy mouth." ^ 

These lines may be summed up in the percept 
^'Fulfil your oaths to the Lord/^ ^^Do not swear 
falsely. ' ' But Jesus gives the law a deeper meaning. 

" Verily ye shall not swear any oath at all. 
Ye shall not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne: 
Ye shall not swear by earth, for it is the footstool of His feet : 
Ye shall not swear by Jerusalem, for it is the royal city: 
Ye shall not swear by the head, for ye cannot change it.* 
Only let your words be Yea, yea; or Nay, nay: 
And whatsoever is more than these, is of evil." 

Heaven, earth, Jerusalem, are all alike inseparably 
connected with God. To swear by them is to swear 
by God. The oath by the head is rejected because 
of the inability of the man to change it ; for that is in 
the power of God alone. Jesus exhorts not to swear 
any of these oaths, which, as the other passage 
shows, they were accustomed to swear without feel- 
ing their binding force. ^ AVhat shall we say then of 

iLv. xix. 12. 2Nu. XXX. 2. 3Dt. xxiii. 21-23. 5 See p. 185. 
*' " One hair, white or black " is an explanatory addition. 



164 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JE8US. 

the oath to God! Does Jesus mean to exclude that 
also? Certainly not. He means to teach that the 
Pharisaic casuistry as to oaths is to be rejected; that 
no oaths are of light importance; that they all in^ 
volve God. The alternative is therefore to swear by 
God when necessary, or swear not at all. The nor- 
mal course is to swear not at all ; but to speak simply 
and plainly and briefly: yes, or no. Anything be- 
yond that springs out of evil. It is either because a 
man wishes to deceive, or he fears lest he may be sus- 
pected of untruthfulness. 

It has been held that Jesus here forbids oaths in 
the name of God in courts of justice. This would 
make Jesus inconsistent with himself ; for he himself 
swears by the living God, the oath put to him by the 
high-priest.^ He does not forbid oaths in courts of 
justice; but oaths in connection with vows, promises 
and bargains. A Christian's word should be suffi- 
cient. But what of those who are not Christians? 
Shall we exact oaths of them 1 If they do not under- 
stand the principles of Jesus, but regard an oath as 
essential to speaking and holding to the truth, it 
would seem to be necessary to treat them in the stage 
of ethical development in which they live. The 
Christian's ideal is not, and cannot be, the ideal for 
those who are not Christians.^ 



iMt. xxvi. 63-66; Mk. xiv. 61-64 and Lk. xxii. 66-71, do not re- 
port the oath. 

2 The discourse in Matthew now gives another example from the 
Law, the Lex Talionis. This law is not discussed in the same way 
as the other. It is now interpreted and given a deeper and richer 
meaning. It is brought into antithesis with the principle of love. 
This latter really belongs to the Sermon on the Mount as we have 



TEE LAW. 155 

The Gospels give no less than three occasions in 
which Jesus gives his summary of the Law in answer 
to questions. The earliest is the one when he gives 
his parable of the Good Samaritan as an exposition , , 
of love to the neighbor. The next is on his last jour- A^^^^ 
ney to Jerusalem, in connection with which he gives ^^i/^t 
the counsel of perfection. These are considered? 
more appropriately in other chapters.^ So far as 
they give Jesus' summary of the Law, they are not 
so full as the last incident and add nothing of im- 
portance thereto. This last incident is a question as 
to the Law put by a Pharisee lawyer, in Passion 
Week in Jerusalem. 

According to Mark one of the scribes inquired of 
him: 

**What commandment is first of allT'^ Accord- 
ing to Matthew it was a lawyer. But he greatly 
abbreviates the story of Mark. The scope of the 
inquiry is the whole Law of the Old Testament and 
not the Ten Words. What command in the whole 
Law ranks first, highest and greatest! or possibly, in 
what can it all be summed up? Jesus answers from 
the Deuteronomic code. '^Hear, Israel; Yahweh 
our God, Yahweh is one. ' '^ This is first, greatest and 



seen. It is probable that the use of the lex talionis here was the 
reason why the Gospel of Matthew introduced the discourse as to the 
Law in this place, taking it from a different place in the Logia of 
Matthew. See p. 97 sq. i See pp. 232 sq. 

2Mk. xii. 28-34; Mt. xxii. 34-40; Lk. x. 25-28. 

3Dt. vi. 4. This is the well-known Shemah, so called from the 
first Hebrew word of the sentence, j^aK'. It was the fundamental 
principle of Judaism. 



156 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

the sum of all. The one God of Israel is the being 
in whom all the Law is summed up. It all comes 
from Him and leads to Him. Jesus however gives a 
more practical answer by summing up the Law undeT^ 
two heads. ' ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
strength. ' '^ The first command is to love God, abso- 
lutely and entirely, with all the faculties and powers 
of man 's nature. There is nothing new in this teach- 
ing of Jesus. It is a renewal of the teaching of 
Deuteronomy.2 It was well known to all the Jews. 

Jesus adds a second to the first command.^ * * The 
second is this : Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
self.'' This command is from the Holiness code.* 
It is the climax to a series of laws with reference to 
neighbors, summing them up. Jesus takes it and 
makes it the summing up of all duties to men. This 
law is not original with Jesus, but he gives it greater 
comprehension. 

The scribe recognizes the truth of Jesus' words. 
He also draws a legitimate consequence that: ^^of a 



1 It is not to be supposed that Jesus miscited to the lawyer in any 
way, on this occasion, this fundamental law of Israel, used in daily 
worship. Mark follows the original, but inserts diavoia. This use of 
diavoLa is probably due to the Greek Version, which uses it for nnS. 
It is not likely that Jesus used this doublet of KapcVia. Matthew 
singularly omits ioxvg and gives KapcUa, ipvxv and 6idvoca. It is prob- 
able that 6mvoca, was added as an explanation of KapSla in Mark 
or as a doublet as in the previous passage, and so was copied into 
the other Gospels. 

2Dt. vi. 5. The i is the ^ of consequence in Deuteronomy, " There- 
fore thou shalt love, etc." The Kai of the Gospel is Hebraistic. 

3 Mk. xii. 31. * Lv. xix. 18. 



THE LAW. 157 

truth, Master, thou hast well said that He is one ; and 
there is none other but He : and to love Him with all 
the heart and with all the understanding and with all 
the strength and to love his neighbor as himself, is 
much more than all whole burnt-offerings and peace- 
offerings. ' ^ 

According to Matthew Jesus said: **0n these two 
commandments hangeth the whole Law and the proph- 
ets.''^ According to MarP ^^ when Jesus saw that 
he answered discreetly he said unto him: Thou art 
not far from the kingdom of God. ' ' This scribe un- 
derstood that the Law is summed up in love ; and so 
he had all that the Law could give him; and was 
prepared for the kingdom of God, and was not far 
from it. He had not yet learned the principle of love 
that Jesus taught, as over and above all Law, in its 
voluntariness, and therefore he had not entered the 
kingdom. 

It is just this distinction between the law of love 
and the Godlike liberty of love which distinguishes 
the dispensation of the Law from the dispensation 
of the Gospel. 

^Mt. xxii. 40. This is a variation of Mt. vii. 12: "For this is the 
Law and the Prophets," and is not original. 
2 Mk. xii. 34. 



xn. 

Righteousness. 

EiGHTEOusNEss was a term of frequent use among 
the Pharisees to indicate entire conformity to the 
Law of God. So it was much used by the Pharisee 
Paul, after he became a Christian, in order to show 
the antithesis between legal righteousness, and the 
righteousness of faith. Jesus used the term little, if 
at all. It is not used by Jesus according to any of 
the Gospels but Matthew; and the uses in Matthew 
are chiefly, if not altogether, of the nature of explana- 
tions. The reason why Jesus avoided the term, was 
probably partly from the Pharisaic misuse of it, to 
avoid misunderstanding and controversy ; and partly 
because his teaching had other ends in view than the 
exposition of righteousness and Law. At the same 
time, even if Jesus never used the term, he did dis- 
cuss ethical questions, which are rightly brought 
under the category of righteousness ; and the author 
of the Gospel of Matthew does not misrepresent Jesus 
when he puts the term righteousness in his mouth. 

The first use of righteousness in the Gospel, in the 
order of time, was at the Baptism of Jesus.^ On this 
occasion Matthew reports that John the Baptist was 
reluctant to baptize Jesus, because he recognized his 
own inferiority to the one whom he had heralded. 

iMt. iii. 15. 

158 



RIGHTEOUSNESS. 159 

Jesus replies: ^^Thus it becometh us to fulfil all 
righteousness. ' ' 

This is not mentioned in the other Gospels. It 
may be an interpretation of the situation by the 
evangelist, or it may be that the evangelist had heard 
from tradition that Jesus made this reply. If so, it 
is more likely that Jesus used the term: *^the will of 
the Father.'^ The theophanic voice approving Jesus 
as the beloved son, in whom the Father was well 
pleased, would suit that phrase better ; and it would 
suit better Jesus ' terminology.^ 

It is important to notice however what righteous- 
ness means here. It is not conformity to Law or the 
Prophets, or even to the Kabbinical traditional Law. 
It is the submission to the ceremony of Baptism, 
which John the Baptist had introduced, as a sign of 
preparation for the kingdom of Grod. It is true that 
righteousness among the Pharisees covered ceremo- 
nial acts as well as ethical acts. But the significant 
thing is that Jesus regarded submission to this cere- 
mony of baptism, as righteousness ; doubtless because 
he knew that it was the will of his Father that he 
should do so. 

We next meet with the term righteousness in the 
beatitude of the hungry in the Sermon on the Mount. 
Matthew gives it thus: ^^ Blessed are they that hun- 
ger and thirst after righteousness. ' ^^ But the beati- 
tude in Luke has not the word righteousness ; and we 
may be sure that righteousness here is an explana- 

1 See p. 35. 2Mt. v. 6. See p. 83. 



160 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

tory addition by Matthew's Gospel, to indicate that 
the hunger is not simply the animal appetite; not 
merely the appetite of the sonl to do the will of God ; 
but it is the voluntary hunger which is endured for 
righteousness' sake, that which the disciple is com- 
pelled to suffer in doing the will of God; because of 
righteousness.^ For the same reason it is added by 
Matthew to the beatitude of the Persecuted,^ where 
Luke gives— ^^ for the Son of Man's sake"; both of 
which are without doubt explanatory additions of the 
evangelists. 

The Sermon on the Mount gives several other uses 
of righteousness, but these are in passages which 
probably belong to the Perean ministry. The exhor- 
tation : ^ ^ But seek ye first his kingdom and his right- 
eousness ' '^ is given in Luke* without the term ^ ^ right- 
eousness, ' ' so that righteousness is here again an ex- 
planatory addition. Luke very properly gives king- 
dom alone. 

These uses of righteousness by Matthew in the Ser- 
mon on the Mount are ethical rather than ceremonial. 
Eighteousness stands for the kingdom of God, and a 
life of voluntary hunger, and of suffering persecu- 
tion for Christ's sake. It has no relation to right- 
eousness in the Pharisaic use of the term. 

There are two other uses of righteousness in the 
Sermon on the Mount, which are more important for 

^ It is altogether probable that the accusative diKaoavvriv is the ac- 
cusative with respect to, as to, because of, and not tlie accusative 
giving the object of the verb. See p. 87. 

2 Mt. v. 10. 3 Mt. vi. 33. * Lk. xii. 31. 



RIGHTEOUSNESS. 161 

our purpose, because they set the righteousness of 
the disciples of Jesus in antithesis to the righteous- 
ness of the Pharisees. This antithesis could hardly 
have been earlier than the Perean ministry, and it 
doubtless goes with the discussion with the Pharisees 
during that period. It is furthermore probable that 
these two passages belong to the same time and the 
same discourse. In a logion attached to Jesus' dis- 
cussion as to the Law/ he said : ^ ' Except your right- 
eousness shall exceed that of the scribes (and Phari- 
sees) ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of 
heaven. '^ Here the righteousness of the scribes is 
said to be not sufficient to enter into the kingdom, 
^---^he disciples of Jesus must have a higher righteous- 
ness. The righteousness of the Pharisees is a legal 
righteousness — often it is mere profession without 
practice; but even when conduct and doctrine corre- 
spond, it is still insufficient, for it remains in the legal 
stage at the very best. 

So Jesus said to the PJiarisee, who recognized that 
love in obedience to the Law was more than sacrifice, 
that while he was not far from the kingdom, he was 
not yet in it. So he said to the Pharisee chief, Nico- 
demus, that a birth from heaven and of the Spirit 
was necessary in order to see and enter the kingdom. 
So St. Paul, the Pharisee, who had lived a blameless 
legal life, had to be transformed into a Christian by 
going higher than the legal righteousness into the 
righteousness of faith. 



iMt. V. 20. 

11 



162 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

The superior righteousness that Jesus had in mind, 
was not therefore greater conformity to Law, in con- 
duct, speech and mind,— although that was required^ 
—but more than that, the righteousness of the king- 
dom, a righteousness inspired by a personal relation- 
ship to the Father and the Son, and animated by the 
principle of Christlike love. 

The saying as to righteousness probably intro- 
duced a beautiful and touching logion.^ Here again 
we do not know whether Jesus used the term right- 
eousness or not ; but in any case he used some term, 
which meant the same thing, so far as the usage of 
St. Paul and apostolic Christianity are concerned. 

Jesus takes three illustrations, almsgiving, prayer 
and fasting. These are all comprehended under the 
term righteousness, in the usage of the time, and so 
we must consider them. Jesus tells how the scribes 
do these things, in order to set forth how his disciples 
are to do them. The scribes do their righteousness 
to be seen of men, to meet public approval. Their 
norm is the opinion of men, and accordingly they re- 
ceive their reward in the approval of men. The dis- 
ciple is to do his righteous acts after the norm of 
God 's love, and so gets his reward from the approval 
of God, whose all-seeing eye rests upon him. Thus 
again all acts of righteousness are to be done before 
the eyes of God, after Him, as the supreme ethical 
norm. 

It is not difficult to restore the three strophes of 
eight lines each, with the introductory sentence; al- 

1 Mt. vi. 1-6, 16-18. 



RIGHTEOUSNESS. 163 

though Matthew, in accordance with its custom, en- 
larges and explains, or else abbreviates, here and 
there. 

" Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men. 
Else ye have no reward with your Father. 

I. 

When ye do alms, ye shall not be as the hypocrites ; 

For they sound a trumpet before them in the synagogues/ 

In order that they may have glory of men. 

Yerily they have received their reward. 

But thou, when thou doest alms. 

Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. 

In order that thine alms may be in secret. 

And thy Father, which seeth in secret, will recompense thee. 

II. 
And when ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites ; 
For they love to stand in the synagogues and ^ the streets, 
In order that they may be seen of men to pray. 
Yerily they have received their reward. 
But thou, when thou prayest, 

Enter into thine inner chamber, and close the door. 
And pray to thy Father, which is in secret, 
And thy Father, which seeth in secret will recompense thee.'' 

III. 

And when ye fast, ye shall not be as the hypocrites. 

They are of sad countenance; because they disfigure their 

faces. 
In order that they may be seen of men to fast. 
Verily they have received their reward. 



1 " And on the streets " is an addition to the logion, so also " cor- 
ners of," 

2Mt. vi. 7-15, was taken from another context in order to bring 
together other material relating to prayer. Lk. xi. 1-3 gives us the 
time and occasion (see p. 117). 



164 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

But thou when, thou fastest. 
Anoint thy head and wash thy face, 

In order that thou mayest be seen of thy Father, which is in 

secret, ^~~~" 

And thy Father, which seeth in secret, will recompense thee." 

Almsgiving, prayer and fasting, are religious acts ; 
they are in the sphere of religion rather than morals. 
We have only to consider the ethical principles which 
underlie them. The hypocrites do these acts of right- 
eousness, not because of any internal, ethical im- 
pulse; or from compliance with any proper ethical 
norm ; but simply and alone for such rewards as they 
may derive from the approval of public opinion. 
They have observed custom and kept the Law, and are 
therefore righteous in their own opinion and that of 
their fellow men. Almsgiving, prayer, fasting, are 
indeed acts of righteousness for the Christian; but 
their internal motive should be love, and their ethical 
norm God's secret approval.^ 

It is evident from these passages that Jesus had 
an entirely different conception of righteousness 
from that of the Pharisees. Righteousness in the 
kingdom of God, indeed, embraced the keeping of the 
divine Law, and the observance of the ceremonies of 
the Law, prayer, fasting and almsgiving ; but in addi- 
tion the Teaching of John the Baptist and the Teach- 

iThe passage Mt. vi. 19-34 lias been inserted from other connec- 
tions, Mt. vi. 19-21 =:Lk. xii. 33-34; Mt. vi. 22-23 =:Lk. xi. 34-36; 
Mt. vi. 24r=:Lk. xvi. 13; Mt. vi. 25-34 = Lk. xii. 22-32. Luke 
gives the right place in all these cases. See pp. 209 sq., 212 sq., 245. 
That which originally followed the passage just considered was Mt. 
vii. l-5=:Lk. vi. 37-42. 



RIGHTEOUSNESS, 165 

ing of Jesus, and all that these implied. The king- 
dom of God had its righteousness, which was so much 
higher than that of the Law, that the legal righteous- 
ness of the Pharisees, at the best, could not gain an 
entrance into the kingdom. 

Luke gives the parable of the Pharisee and the 
Publican, which properly may be considered here. 
The Pharisee, in his self -righteousness, stands pray- 
ing in the temple, at the hour of sacrifice. He prays 
thus: *^God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest 
of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as 
this publican. I fast twice in the week ; I give tithes 
of all that I get. ' '^ In prayer to God, he asserts that 
he has not violated the Law of God. He has more- 
over kept the traditional customs for fencing in the 
Law. He is a true Pharisee, after the Law and tra- 
ditions perfectly righteous. He relies upon his right- 
eousness for justification before God. He does not 
give himself the entire credit for his righteousness. 
He thanks God for it ; the hour of sacrifice is to him 
a time of thank-otf ering, and not of sin-offering. 

Over against him Jesus sets the despised publi- 
can, who also stands praying in the temple at the 
same hour of sacrifice. He says: ^^God cover over 
me a sinner. '^^ He recognizes that he is a sinner, 
and prays God to cover over his sins and obliterate 
them. Jesus said: ^^This man went down to his 
house justified, rather than the other.'' The publi- 
can was justified, because his sins were covered over 

iLk. xviii. 11-12. See p. 173 sq. 2 gee p. 78. 



166 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

and obliterated by God's love. He had repented, 
and by repentance had entered the kingdom of God; 
and so shared in the righteousness of the kingdonii — -^ 
It is doubtful whether Jesus used this word justifi- 
cation, which may have come from the interpretation 
of St. Luke the pupil of St. Paul; but Jesus used 
some word that was its real equivalent. Suppose we 
should say: this man went down to his house well 
pleasing, or acceptable to God, rather than the other? 
Either of these words would be words common in con- 
nection with sacrifices, and would be in accord with 
the terminology of Jesus. This would be in accord- 
ance- with the teaching of Jesus elsewhere; that the 
Pharisee at the best, could not enter the kingdom of 
God and be accepted of God in the kingdom of His 
love. He must first repent and accept the teachings 
of the King, and his principles of love. The publican 
here, as the publicans elsewhere, repented when 
Jesus came to them, and in their repentance became 
his disciples and entered the kingdom ; and so began 
to live in the higher righteousness of Love. 






1 



,.ty^^'t''^-<^' 




XIII. 

Phaeisaism. 

The Pharisees were a religious party among the 
Jews, whose chief characteristic was zeal for the 
Law. This zeal manifested itself in the utmost scru- 
pulosity as to details. The letter of the Law was 
unfolded to the utmost logical consequences, and the 
inevitable result was innumerable questions of casuis- 
try, with hair-splitting distinctions. The motive was 
undoubtedly to make a fence about the Law; remove 
every possibility of its infraction, and secure its ob- 
servance with the utmost strictness and comprehen- 
sion. Thus the religion, doctrine, and ethics of the 
Pharisees became legalized, and everything was 
measured by the letter of the Law. Men who had 
this zeal for the Law in their hearts, as St. Paul, 
Gamaliel and Nicodemus, agonized in their effort to 
attain justification by it. Such men, as Jesus said, 
were not far from the kingdom of God.^ Such Phari- 
sees easily became Christians. But there were many 
others to whom the letter of the Law became suffi- 
cient, and by whom its true spirit was disregarded. 
They felt justified by its external observance, and 
gave themselves free range in other respects. They 
were content if they kept safely within the bounds of 
external obedience, and felt free to do any amount 

iSee p. 157. 

167 



168 TBE ETHICAL TEACHING OP JESU^. 

of wickedness in secret, and even in public, beyond 
the range of its prohibitions. They became, by an 
inevitable process of moral decay, hypocrites. — 

The Pharisees were the chief religious party 
among the Jews at the time of Jesus. There were in 
Palestine besides, the mystic sect of Essenes. So far 
as it appears in the narratives of the Gospels Jesus 
came into no relation with them. Jesus had no as- 
cetic tendencies. The Sadducees were the sacerdotal 
party, with little influence among the people. Jesus 
came into conflict with them only in his maintenance 
of the doctrine of the Resurrection. The Herodians 
were a political, rather than a religious party. Jesus 
came into conflict with them only so far as they were 
disposed to resist his Messianic claims. But the 
Pharisees, as the deeply religious and legal party, 
were his real opponents; and it was this party that 
entered into conflict with him early in his ministry, 
and finally forced the issue that led to his crucifixion. 
In the Gospel of John the term Jeivs^ takes the place 
of Pharisees by the second hand ; because at that time 
the Jews, who did not embrace Christianity after the 
destruction of Jerusalem, especially in Asia, were 
really all Pharisees, and the two terms were practi- 
cally identical. 

The Pharisees were of all classes of the people, who 
embraced Pharisaic principles. But the chief Phari- 
sees were either rulers of synagogues, or else rabbis 
and teachers, or scribes, or lawyers, who devoted 



1 See 'New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 144, 145. 



PHARISAISM. 169 

themselves especially to the study of the Law and its 
explanation. 

Jesus in his earliest ministry excites the hostility 
of the Pharisees by his asserting his authority as the 
Son of man to forgive sin, by associating with publi- 
cans and sinners, and by differences in teaching as 
to Fasting and Purifications. 

The jealousy of the Pharisees was excited by the 
success of Jesus in the Jordan valley in winning dis- 
ciples.^ Their interests were opposed to the growth 
of a new religious party. Their enmity increased 
still more owing to the violation of their Sabbath cus- 
toms by Jesus and his disciples. Jesus rebukes the 
Pharisees at the Feast of Pentecost and exposes their 
inconsistency. ^'I know you, that ye have not the 
love of God in yourselves."^ 

This was their radical defect. They observed the 
letter of the Law. But love, the true spirit and sum 
of the Law, they had not. ^'How can ye believe, 
which receive glory one of another, and the glory that 
cometh from the only God ye seek notT'^ They 
sought and found the glory of men. They did not 
seek and did not find the glory of God ; that is, they 
were satisfied with the approval of men, and cared 
not for the approval of God. ^ ' Think not that I will 
accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth 
you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope.''^ 
They did indeed make Moses their master; but they 
did not have the spirit of Moses, and they did not 

1 A^ew Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 80 sq. 2 j^ v. 42. 

' Jn. V. 44. -Jjn. v. 45. 



^^ 



170 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

follow the intrinsic teaching of Moses. ^'For if ye 
believed Moses, ye would believe me: for he wrote 
of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shaUr--" 
ye believe my workf^ The prophetic element in 
the Law was as important as the legal element. This 
they neglected ; and while they did not deny it, they 
did not really believe it ; and therefore they could not 
see its fulfilment in Jesus. 

At the feast of Tabernacles Jesus said : * ^ Did not 
Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you doeth 
the Law ? ^ ^^ They did not do the Law because they 
violated its most essential principle, the law of love, 
in objecting to the healing of men on the Sabbath. 

At the feast of Dedication he said to the Pharisees : 
''Ye know neither me, nor my Father: if ye knew 
me, ye would know my Father also. ' '^ The reverse 
is suggested, that if they knew the Father they would 
know him. ''If God were your Father, ye would 
love me: for I came forth and am come from God; 
... ye are of your father the devil. "* " He that is 
of God heareth the words of God. For this cause ye 
hear them not, because ye are not of God. ' '^ 

The Pharisees asked him: "Are we blind alsoT' 
Jesus said : " If ye were blind, ye would have no sin. 
But now ye say. We see : your sin remaineth. ' '^ 

The Pharisees were not really sons of God, and 
therefore they could not recognize Jesus as the Son 
of God. They were evil-minded and were under the 
influence of the devil rather than God. 



».Tn. V. 46-47. 2 Jn. vii. 19. 3 Jn. viii. 19. 

* Jn. viii. 42-44. « Jn. viii. 47. " Jn. ix. 41. 



PHARISAISM. 171 

Several conflicts with the Pharisees involving 
Jesus ' estimation of Pharisaism are given by Lnke.^ 
They are in logia attached to incidents, derived from 
the Logia of Matthew. They really belong to the late 
Galilean ministry, subsequent to the Feeding of the 
Multitudes. The most important of these is the 
series of Woes pronounced by Jesus upon the Phari- 
see scribes and lawyers. Matthew's Gospel gives 
them with the other Woes of Passion-week in Jeru- 
salem^ for topical reasons. Luke gives a con- 
siderable number of them. The group of Woes in 
Luke is attached to a meal at a Pharisee 's table, men- 
tioned by Luke alone. ^ In connection with this meal, 
a discussion arose as to ceremonial purification be- 
fore eating.^ The story in Mark and Matthew is in- 
serted without any apparent connection with the pre- 
vious or subsequent context. Evidently Luke de- 
rives his material from an independent source and 
that was probably the Logia of Matthew. The diffi- 
culty is that Mark and Matthew place the story with 
the material of the late Galilean ministry ; Luke, with 
the material of the Perean ministry. The former 
omit the Woes; the latter omits the charge against 

iLk. xi. 29-32, 37-52, 53-xii. 1. 2Mt. xxiii. sLk. xi. 37-52. 

* According to Luke it appears that it was Jesus himself who 
neglected the ceremonial purification. But this is not altogether 
certain, for the verb is passive and without subject, and it may be 
interpreted as having an indefinite subject rather than the subject 
of the previous clause. If this be so, it may have referred originally 
to the disciples, and thus be another version of the same discussion 
given in Mk. vii. 1-23, Mt. xv. 1-20, omitted by Luke in that con- 
nection. 



172 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

the Pharisees of making void the Law by their tra- 
ditions, with the specimen of the parental law; and 
also the discussion as to the inner and the outer, al^^^^ 
though it grew out of the Woes upon the Pharisees. 
On the whole it is probable that we have different 
versions of the same story. Jesus said to the Phari- 
sees : ^^ Why do ye also transgress the commandment 
of God because of your tradition. ... Ye have made 
void the word of God because of your tradition. ' '^ 

This is more original than Mark: ^^Ye leave the 
commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of 
men. And he said unto them : Full well do ye reject 
the commandments of God that ye may keep your 
tradition.''^ The latter verse seems to be only a 
variant of the former. The example which Jesus 
gives is the violation of the parental law in the inter- 
est of the Jcorhan, a gift to the altar of God.^ This is 
in entire accordance with his charge against them in 
the Gospel of John, that they really violated the 
Law of Moses in their teaching and practice. This 
leads to the rebuke: ^^Now do ye Pharisees cleanse 
the outside of the cup and of the platter; but your 
inward part is full of extortion, and wickedness. Ye 
foolish ones, did not He that made the outside make 
the inside also? Howbeit give for alms those things 
which are within; and behold, all things are clean 
unto you.''^ 

This is given in Matthew in the form of a Woe: 
**Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 

iMt. XV. 3-6. 2Mk. vii. 8-9. 3 See p. 130. -» Lk. xi. 39-41. 



PHARISAISM. 173 

for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plat- 
ter, but within they are full from extortion and excess. 
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the 
cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may 
become clean also.''^ Inasmuch as this begins a 
series of Woes in Luke, it is probable that Matthew ^s 
version is correct in introducing it also by a Woe. 
The original in the Logia was probably this : 

" Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, 
Who cleanse the outside of the cup and platter, 
But within are full of extortion and wickedness! 
Fools, did He not make the outside and the inside? 
Cleanse the inside of the cup and platter. 
And the outside will be clean to you also." ^ 

According to this the Pharisees were concerned for 
external purity and not for internal purity. 

Four other Woes are added which probably belong 
here. The original of the first was probably : 

"Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, 
Who tithe mint, anise and cummin. 
And pass over justice and love and fidelity! 
Ye blind, these ye ought to have done. 
And those ye ought not to have left undone. 
Ye strain at the gnat and swallow the camel." ' 

The Pharisees passed over the most important parts 

1 Mt. xxiii. 25-26. 

2 The phrase of Lk. Sore eXerj/noavvT^v is rendered by Delitzsch npl^'? 13n. 
If we could find in Matthew an original mr and in Luke an original 
IplX, the differences might have originated from confusion. 

3 The variations in both Mt. xxiii. 23-24, Lk. xi. 42 are partly con- 
densations, partly explanations of this common original. Matthew 
inserts " weightier matters of the law." Luke omits iriarig aad traij.Sr 
lates non very properly by a-ydirr/ tov Qeov. 



174 TEE ETEICAL TEACEING OF JESUS. 

of the Law, and insisted upon minor things beyond 
the Law. They ought to have done the former even^ 
if they neglected the latter. They did not neglect the 
minor things, but they neglected the major. 

The law of tithes is given in several passages of 
the Pentateuch.^ The tithe was of cattle and grain, 
oil and wine, things suitable for offerings. ^^The 
tithe of thy grain, or of thy wine, or of thine oil."^ 
'^The tithe of thy grain, of thy wine, and of thine 
oil. "3 The fullest law is: ^'And all the tithe of the 
land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit 
of the tree, is Yahweh's; it is holy unto Yahweh." 
. . . ^^ And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, what- 
soever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy 
unto Yahweh.''^ 

There is no evidence that the law of tithing was 
meant to include the small seeds, anise and cummin, 
etc. Yet zeal to tithe these might be commended, 
provided it was accompanied with zeal for the more 
important things. These are in the estimation of 
Jesus, as of the Old Testament, justice and kind- 
ness.^ 

" He hath shewed thee, man, what is good ; 
And what doth Yahweh require of thee, 
But to do justice and love kindness 
And walk humbly with thy God?"" 



iNu. xviii. 21-32; Lv. xxvii. 30-33; Dt. xii. 17-18; xiv. 22-29. 

2Dt. xii. 17. 3Dt. xiv. 23. * Lv. xxvii. 30-32. ^ Mic. vi. 8. 

<> Luke has been doubtless influenced by this passage to interpret 
non on its divine side as piety, love to God; whereas Matthew couples 
riQNl non which in usage must be interpreted on the human side as 
kindness and fidelity to men. 



PHARISAISM. 175 

" Let not kindness and fidelity forsake thee : 

Bind them aboiit thy neck; 

Write them upon the table of thine heart: 

So shalt thou find favour and good repute, 

In the sight of God and man." ^ 
"For kindness I delight in, and not peace offering; 

And the knowledge of God, rather than whole burnt offer- 
ings." =^ 

Thus Jesus makes duty to man, the duty of justice, 
kindness and fidelity, vastly more important than 
paying tithes to God.^ 

The third Woe is condensed in Luke.^ But 
Matthew^ gives it more fully. The original had 
probably six lines as the others. 

" Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, 
Who are like whited sepulchres outwardly, 
But inwardly are full of bones and all uncleanness; 
And men walk over them and know it not. 
Ye appear outwardly righteous unto men. 
But inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." 

This doubtless belongs here, because it returns to the 
antithesis between the inner and the outer, which 
was the occasion of the Woes. The Pharisees hav- 
ing only an outward righteousness, were inwardly 
hypocrites. 

Two Woes are now added to the lawyers, who like 
the scribes are Pharisaic teachers. These are intro- 
duced by the remonstrance of a lawyer. ^^And one 

1 Pr. ill. 3-4. 2 Ho. vi. 6. 

3 Lk. xi. 43 does not belong here. It has been brought in here for 
topical reasons. It doubtless belongs in Passion-week where it is 
given by Lk. xx. 46 ; Mk. xii. 38-39 ; Mt. xxiii. 6-7. 

* Lk. xi. 44. 5 Mt. xxiii. 27-28. 



176 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

of the lawyers answering saith unto him: 'Master, 
in saying this thou reproachest us also.' " Jesus 
accepts this statement and gives two Woes to the 
lawyer,^ which are interrupted by a Woe which is 
inappropriate here, but belongs to the Woes of Pas- 
sion-week. These are also brief. The original was 
probably : 

" Woe unto you lawyers, Pharisees, 
Who bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne. 
But will not touch the burdens with one of your fingers." 

These are the exactions of the Law, as interpreted by 
the lawyers. They become a yoke, which, as St. Peter 
told the Council of Jerusalem, was intolerable.^ The 
lawyers made the yoke heavy for others. They gave 
no help to bear it; they had no kindness or mercy. 
The three lines are probably only a part of the logion. 
The original of the two versions of the next Woe 
was probably: 

" Woe unto you lawyers, Pharisees, 
Who shut the kingdom of God against men. 
And take away from them the key of knowledge! 
Ye will not enter the kingdom of God yourselves. 
And ye will not suffer those that would enter, to enter." * 

The scribes would not enter the kingdom themselves ; 
they could not, because they would not do the com- 
mands they themselves taught the people to do. But 
not only this, they prevented the people from going 
into the kingdom by shutting the gates against them. 
They took away the key of knowledge; they taught 

iLk. xi. 45-52; Mt. xxiii. 4. 2 Acts xv. 10. 

»Mt. xxiii. 13; Lk. xi. 52. 



PHARISAISM. 177 

them falsely, namely, to do things which would pre- 
vent their entrance into the kingdom. 

This discourse concludes with a prophecy which 
Jesus puts in the form of a citation from divine Wis- 
dom.^ The original was probably : 

" Behold I send -unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes : 
Some of them shall ye kill and crucify; 
And some of them shall ye scourge and persecute: 
That upon you may come all the righteous blood, 
From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachariah. 
All these things shall come upon this generation." 

This is followed by a lament over Jerusalem -.^ 

" Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, 
And stonest them that are sent unto thee ! 
How often would I have gathered thy children. 
As a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 
And ye would not ! 
Behold your house is left unto you desolate ! " 

And a final couplet : 

"Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say. 
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." 

Luke gives in this connection Jesus' warning to the 
disciples against the Pharisees: ^'Beware ye of the 
leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.''^ 

^Mt. xxiii. 34-36; Lk. xi. 49-51. 

2Mt. xxiii. 37-39; Lk. xiii. 34-35 in different connections; but it 
certainly belongs here. 

^ In Lk. xii. 1. It appears in a sentence taken out of its original 
connection and so abridged as not to give good sense. This is given by 
Mt. xvi. G and :Mk. viii. 15 in a different connection, after the feed- 
ing of the multitudes, when the disciples had taken the boat across 
the sea. There can be little doubt that this is the proper place. 
Mark gives it in the form " Take heed, beware of the leaven of the 
Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." Matthew gives it in the form: 
12 



178 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. • 

Neither Mark nor Luke gives any explanation of it, 
but Matthew gives an explanation. ^'Then under- 
stood they how that he bade them not beware of the 
leaven of bread, but of the teachings of the Phari^--^ 
sees. ' ' But this is probably explanatory on the part 
of the Gospel. 

A logion is given by Luke which appears more 
fully in Mark and Matthew.^ This is attached by 
Mark and Matthew to another with reference to the 
charge that Jesus cast out devils through the power 
of the devil. Luke attaches it to another with refer- 
ence to speaking under the guidance of the Spirit. 
Both of these are topical connections. In the one 
case it is a warning to the Pharisees against blas- 
phemy : in the other case it is a general warning.^ 

Luke gives the demand for a sign with a logion 
just before the discussion as to purification already 
considered f and in connection with the discussion as 
to Beelzebub. Matthew gives it in the same connec- 
tion.^ But it is omitted in the parallel of Mark and 
has only topical justification here.^ 

The Pharisees indeed tempt him to give a sign, 
meaning by that, not a miracle, but some theophanic 

" Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sad- 
ducees. It is altogether probable that only " Pharisees " was in 
the original. The other parties were added by the evangelists from 
a later point of view. 

iLk. xii. 10; Mk. iii. 28-29; Mt. xii. 31-32; see p. 193. 

2 See New Light on the Life of Jesus, p. 68. 

3Lk. xi. 29-32; see p. 179. <Mt. xii. 38-42. 

This is really the same incident reported in Mt. xvi. 1-4; Mk. 
viii. 11-12. 



PHARISAISM. 179 

sign. Mark^ has: ''There shall no sign be given 
nnto this generation." This is however incorrect, 
for the three other versions have: ''but the sign of 
Jonah." To this Matthew and Lnke add a logion.^ 
It is evident therefore that the place in Matthew and 
Luke is due to the logion of the Logia of Matthew 
upon which they built. The order of Matthew is 
preferable. 

The original was probably : 

" The men of Xineveh shall stand up in the judgment. 
And shall condemn the men of this generation: 
For they repented at the preaching of Jonah; 
But behold a greater than Jonah is here. 
The Queen of the South shall- rise up in the judgment, 
And shall condemn the men of this generation : 
For she came from the ends of the earth for the wisdom of 

Solomon; 
But behold a greater than Solomon is here." 

This sign seeking seems to be the same as that 
reported in John.^ Matthew^ gives a logion which 
appears in another form and connection in Luke.^ 

" (Ye say) in the evening, '(it will be) fine weather, for the 
heaven is red:' 

In the morning, ' (it will be) foul weather, for the heaven is 
red.' 

When ye see a cloud rising in the "West, ' there cometh a 
shower ;' 

When ye see a South wind blowing, ' there will be a scorch- 
ing heat.' 

Ye know how to discern the face of the heavens ; 

But ye cannot discern the signs of the times." 



1 j\Ik. viii. 12. 2 Mt. xii. 40-42 ; Lk. xi. 30-32. 

3 Jn. vi. *Mt. x\'i. 2-3: Lk. xii. 54-56. 



180 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

A logion is given in Matthew^ which is peculiar to 
that Gospel, and which it is difficult to place. The 
context condemns a hypocritical judgment of others, 
and therefore suggests that hypocrites are in^^e^ 
mind of the evangelist in his interpretation of this 
enigmatical gnome of Jesus. It probably belongs to 
the time of the final struggle with the Pharisees in 
Galilee. 

" Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, 
Neither cast your pearls before the swine; 
Lest haply they trample them under their feet. 
And turn and rend you." 

Dogs and swine stand for the violent and unclean. 
The Jews used these terms for the Gentiles. Jesus 
is not thinking of them. He is rather thinking of the 
Pharisees and their disciples, whom he represents as 
unclean within, and elsewhere calls serpents. The 
holy things of the disciple are the holy teachings of 
Jesus, the pearls of heavenly wisdom. Such teach- 
ings as Jesus has been giving to his disciples, are 
for those who can appreciate them, not for those who 
in impurity and cruelty would take advantage of 
them. Think of talking to dogs and swine about 
Christian love, or counsels of perfection! Teach 
them that it is Christian not to resist evil, and they 
will take advantage of it and do Christians all the 
evil they can. Teach them that a Christian should 
not refuse to give to those who ask of him, and they 
will strip him of all that he has. Teach them that 

1 Mt. vii. 6. 



PHARISAISM. 181 

the Christian should not resist evil, or forced service, 
and they will make Christians their slaves. Teach 
them that the Christian should seek the kingdom and 
not be anxious for other things ; they will rejoice and 
take possession of these other things. Teach them 
that the Christian should not judge, and they will 
take all the judgment into their own hands; and a 
fine judgment of iniquity it will be. 

In other words the holy teachings of Jesus, his 
pearls of heavenly wisdom, are for the initiated; 
those who are called to be his disciples and are in- 
vited to seek the kingdom. They are not to be 
thrown before the enemies of the kingdom to lay bare 
the hearts of Christians and expose them to the mer- 
ciless. The holy things are for holy men and wo- 
men. The pearls are for the true disciples, who sell 
all that they have to secure them. 

The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican 
makes very evident Jesus' estimation of Pharisees. 
They had a complacent, self-satisfied condition of 
mind due to the strict observance of the moral and 
ceremonial Law, without thought of repentance, or 
any further need for acceptance with God. Jesus 
esteems this conformity to external Law as lower 
than repentance and entrance into the kingdom of 
love. It is evident, in the discussions of Jesus with 
the Pharisees in Jerusalem, that they were not really 
desirous of knowing the truth, or of submitting to 
the authority of God. They challenged Jesus' au- 
thority as they had that of John the Baptist; but 



182 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

they would not honestly consider the evidences pre- 
sented to them by Jesus. Jesus having exposed 
their insincerity, and their purpose to put him to 
death without cause and in violation of Law, in the-^^ 
interest of their party, pronounces a second series 
of Woes upon them. These we may arrange as fol- 
lows. Jesus begins with a recognition of the posi- 
tion and authority of the Pharisee scribes : 

" The scribes (the Pharisees) sit on Moses' seat : 
All things therefore whatsoever they bid you. 
These do and observe; 
But do not ye after their works; 
For they say and do not." ^ 

The scribes teach what should be done, but they 
themselves do it not. Jesus' ethics require that men 
should both do and teach. Doing and teaching must 
correspond. The scribes teach one thing and do an- 
other, so that while their teachings may be in accord- 
ance with the ethical laws of God, their doings ex- 
clude them from God's approval. Jesus represents 
that the scribes sit on Moses' seat; that is in the seat 
of authority, as lawful interpreters and executors of 
the Law. They have authority and the correspond- 
ing duty to teach the Law. When Jesus says that 
the people may do what they say, though not what 
they do, he seems on the surface to endorse their 
teachings ; and yet as we have elsewhere seen, he not 
infrequently attacks their teachings as violations of 
Law, and their doctrine as corrupting leaven. The 

iMt. xxiii. 2-3. 



PHARISAISM. 183 

imperatives are not mandatory, but permissive. In 
the terse, sententious teaching of Jesns we cannot 
reasonably anticipate that he will guard himself at 
all points. He has here to deal with conduct, which 
does not correspond with right teaching. Elsewhere 
he shows errors in their teaching also. Jesus insists 
that the ethical norm requires conduct as well as doc- 
trine, and that doctrine without conduct is not suffi- 
cient for entrance to the kingdom of God. Jesus 
then unfolds the falseness of Pharisaic works.^ 

" But all their works they do for to be seen of men : 
Eor they make broad their phylacteries. 
And enlarge the borders of their garments." ^ 

Their deeds, their observance of legal righteous- 
ness, was not with God's will in view, as an ethical 
norm ; but the opinion of the public as to the law was 
their ideal of right. Public opinion and not God's 
will was their ethical ideal.^ 

1 Mt. xxiii. 4 does not belong here. It was introduced from another 
context given in Lk. xi. 46. 

2 The ^vlaKTT]pLa were the \h^T\, little leather boxes which contained 
written on parchment the words Ex. xiii. 9; Dt. vi. 8; xi. 18. The 
Kpaaneda were the n^!J'^, the holy fringe, the badge of the true 
Israelite. 

3 The laws upon which the wearing of phylacteries was based, are: 
(a) Ex. xii. 2-10 the Law of the Passover. (6) Ex. xiii. 11-16 the 
consecration of the first-born closing with " And it shall be for a 
sign upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes." (c) 
Dt. vi. 4-9 the Shemah (see p. 155) closing with: "And thou shalt 
bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be for front- 
lets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the door 
posts of thy house, and upon they gates." (cZ) Dt. xi. 18-21, " There- 
fore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul ; 
and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall 
be for frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your 



184 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

There were two phylacteries, one bound with 
leather straps upon the forehead, the other upon the 
arm. These were made large, not to be signs and 
memorials to them of their fidelity to the Law, but to 
the public that they were keeping the Law. Those 
things which had been provided as faithful reminders 
of obligation to keep the Law, were thus degraded 
into ostentatious symbols of righteousness before the 
public.^ 

The original of the introductory Woe was prob- 
ably: 

" Woe ^ unto you scribes, Pharisees I 

Who love salutations in the marketplaces. 

And chief seats in the synagogues. 

And chief places at feasts. 

And to be called of men, Eabbi; 

Who devour widows' houses. 

While they make long prayers." 

children, talking of them, when thou sittest down in thine house, 
and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and 
when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door 
posts of thine house, and upon thy gates; that your days may be 
multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which 
Yahweh sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the 
heavens above the earth." (e) Nu. xv. 38-39, "Speak unto the 
children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the 
borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that 
they put upon the fringe of each border a cord of blue; and it shall 
be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember 
all the commandments of Yahweh, and do them, etc." 

iMt. xxiii. 8-12 is an insertion from another place which disturbs 
the order of the thought. See p. 264 sq., where it is considered. 

2 The first Woe is without the word " Woe " in Matthew, Mark and 
Luke in this connection, but it is given in Lk. xi. 43. It was omitted 
in the condensation of Mk. xii. 38-40, Lk. xx. 45-47, and Mt. xxiii. 6 
was assimilated. The Woe is implied in the phrase of Mark, Luke: 
" These shall receive greater condemnation." 




PHARISAISM. 185 

TMs is an exhibition of their conduct in public; the 
love of public approval, and greed for honours, con- 
nected with injustice and cruelty to widows, who 
were in the ancient Law conceived as especially un- 
der the protection of God. 
The second Woe is only a tetrastich : 

" Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees ! 
For you compass sea and land 
To make one proselyte, and when he is become so, 
Ye make him twofold more a son of Gehenna than your- 
selves." ^ 

Their zeal was to make proselytes to themselves, not 
to the kingdom of God; and so these proselytes be- 
came like their teachers and, not subject to the same 
traditional and inherited restraint, they inevitably 
became worse than their masters. These masters 
are doomed to Gehenna as their ultimate place ; much 
more their depraved disciples. 

The third Woe was with reference to their making 
void the law of vows. The original was probably i^ 

" Woe unto you, ye blind guides ! who say, 
Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; 
But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is 

a debtor. 
Ye fools and blind (Pharisees) : 
Eor whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that hath 

sanctified the gold? 
He therefore that sweareth by the temple, 
Sweareth by it, and by Him that dwelleth therein. 



iMt. xxiii. 15. 2 Mt. xxiii. 16-22. 



186 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

(Woe unto you, ye blind guides ! who say,) 

Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; 

But whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is 

a debtor. 

Ye (fools) and blind (Pharisees) : ^ ^ 

For whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth 

the gift? 
He therefore that sweareth by the altar, 
Sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 
Woe unto you, ye blind guides! who say. 
Whosoever shall swear by (the throne of God, it is nothing;) 
But whosoever shall swear by the heaven, he is a debtor. 
Ye fools and blind Pharisees : 
For whether is greater, the heaven, or the throne that sacti- 

fieth the heaven? 
He therefore that sweareth by the heaven, 
Sweareth by the throne of God, and Him that sitteth 

thereon." ^ 

The law of vows is tMs :^ ^^If a man vow a vow un- 
to the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a 
bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do ac- 
cording to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.'' 
There were releases for those under authority, as 
wife and children, but not for a man. He had how- 
ever right of redemption.^ The Pharisees seem to 
have introduced a very remarkable casuistry into the 
matter of vows, which Jesus ridicules in a most thor- 
oughgoing manner. The Pharisees seemed to think 
that an oath of devotion of sacred things was binding 



1 The last strophe of this logion has been greatly condensed in the 
Gospel and it is necessary to restore it by conjecture in accordance 
with the two synonymous strophes; cf. the similar restoration, pp. 
201, 202. 

2 Nu. XXX. 2. 3Lv. xxvii. 



PHARISAISM, 187 

in some circumstances and not in others, and the dif- 
ferences in these circumstances were simply the de- 
grees of sacredness attached to the thing by which 
they swore. They recognized the oath by the gold 
of the temple and the korban of the altar as. binding, 
but not that by the temple, or the altar itself. Of 
course the golden plated interior of the temple and 
the korban on the altar were more sacred than the 
exterior temple and the altar; and it might be sup- 
posed that the difference in sanctity of objects in- 
creased the sanctity of the oath; but they failed to 
see what Jesus brings out, that the altar carries with 
it the offering on it; and the temple its gold; and 
the throne of God heaven. The. gold is hallowed by 
the temple, and the korban by the altar, and heaven 
by the throne of God in it. The sanctity of the place 
consecrates all objects in the place ; so he that swear- 
eth by the temple and the altar and the throne of 
God, sweareth by God, who Himself inhabits them 
all. The last strophe has been abridged by Matthew, 
who uses part of its material however elsewhere,^ 
where he also gives other instances, namely Jerusa- 
lem, the royal city, and the head of man. All this 
casuistry on the part of the Pharisees really de- 
stroyed the sanctity of the vow, and violated the Law 
of God which they professed to honour and obey. 

The final Woe of this group^ was originally prob- 
ably thus : 

iMt. V. 34. 

2Mt. xxiii. 29-32: Lk. xi. 47-48. 



188 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

"Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees! 
Who build the sepulchres of the prophets. 
And garnish the tombs of the righteous. 

And say: If we had been in the days of our fathers, .^^ 

We should not have been partakers in their blood. 
Ye are witnesses that ye are the sons of those that slew them; 
Ye fill up the measure of your fathers' guilt." 

The Pharisees pretended to honour the prophets by 
building their tombs. But they had the same spirit 
of persecution that their fathers had. They are fill- 
ing up the measure of their fathers' guilt by doing 
precisely what the fathers had done. 

There is a great difference in these Woes in the 
epithets ascribed to the Pharisees. ^ ^ Hypocrites ' ' is 
the most common term, then ^^ blind guides,'' and 
^ * f ools^ and blind, ' ' or simply ^ ^ blind. " What is the 
ethical significance of these terms applied by Jesus 
to the Pharisees! It is probable that ^'hypocrites" 
is not original. It was probably an interpretation of 
Matthew. But the other terms seem to be original. 
The Pharisees were not safe guides to the people; 
they were blind and would lead their disciples into 
the ditch. They were not wise, but unwise, and real 
fools in their teaching and conduct. Matthew gives 
a final warning : 

"Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, 
How shall ye escape the judgment of Gehenna ? " ' 

* ficjpoi of Matthew is weakened into acppoveg of Luke. 
2 Mt. xxiii. 33. 




XIY. 

SiiT AND Judgment. 

Jesus at first in Ms teaching touches Sin only indi- 
rectly and by antithesis with his norm of conduct. 
He preaches at the beginning repentance, as did 
John the Baptist. This is essential to the forgive- 
ness of sins and entrance into the kingdom of God. 
Repentance implies on the negative side, turning 
away from sin ; a change of mind as to sin. Sinners 
are summoned to repentance. Jesus justifies himself 
for keeping company with publicans and sinners, by 
the assertion that he came, not to call the righteous, 
but sinners.^ He devoted his attention to sinners, that 
is as the context shows, those who recognized them- 
selves to be sinners, and were such in the public esti- 
mation. He did not, at this time, consider the 
righteous, that is those who were righteous in their 
own estimation and in the estimation of others. 

So later on, in the Perean ministry, he states that 
he came to seek the lost and to save them. He con- 
siders sinners as those who have wandered from the 
way like lost sheep, and so are in great peril. His 
mission was to bring them back to the right way, and 
the right place. This he illustrated by the three par- 
ables : the Shepherd seeking the lost Sheep ; the Wo- 
man searching for the lost Coin ; and the Father wel- 

iSee p. 114. 

189 



190 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

coming back the prodigal Son. In all such cases 
Jesus is tender and loving and exceedingly mild to 
sinners. So especially in the case of the sinful 
woman, whom he forgives much in response to~^ir^ 
great love.^ In the Sermon on the Mount, in antithe- 
sis with his blessings, he pronounces woes upon the 
rich, the full, the joyous and the popular. These 
are in antithesis with those who are poor and hungry, 
who weep for the sake of the kingdom of God, and 
who are persecuted by those who in their prosperity 
disregard the kingdom. They are more fully de- 
scribed in the parables of the Perean ministry, where 
Jesus vividly pictures the greedy, grasping rich, and 
prosperous. The occasion of this was the desire of a 
brother to share in the paternal inheritance.^ In 
this passage Jesus comes in contact with a right of 
property, and in some respects the most sacred of 
these, a brother's right to share in the inheritance 
of his father. Whether this was a rightful claim or 
not, we do not know. At all events Jesus declines to 
interpose in his behalf. Instead of doing this, he 
dissuades him from seeking his supposed rights, and 
bids him beware of covetousness. ^'For a man's 
life consisteth not in the abundance of the things 
which he possesseth."^ 

This is illustrated by the parable of the Eich Fool, 
who kept enlarging his possessions and increasing 
his pleasures, until one night God said unto him: 
^^Thou fool, this night is thy life required of thee; 

iSee p. 70 sq. 2 Lk. xii. 13-21. 3 Lk. xii. 15. 



SIN AND JUDGMENT, 191 

and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall 
they beT'^ This rich man dies and is stripped in 
an instant of all his vast possessions. Nothing is 
left him, bnt his bare self, and the account he must 
give of the use of his wealth. This illustrates the 
teaching, that life does not consist in the possessions 
which a man may have. On this is based the appli- 
cation^ ^ ^ So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, 
and is not rich toward God.'^ The rich fool was 
laying up treasure for himself, and eventually in the 
course of nature is stripped bare of it. The life of 
a man should be spent in becoming rich toward God : 
that is, in laying up a store of merit toward God, by 
so using wealth in holy love to God and man, that 
recompense can be made only by God himself. 

This is more fully set forth in the parable of 
Dives and Lazarus.^ Dives was another such rich 
fool as the one described in the previous parable. 
He was rich, and expended his wealth upon his ward- 
robe and table. When he died he went to Hades, and 
to the place of punishment in Hades, where he was 
in torment in the flames. He, in his lifetime, received 
his good things and enjoyed them, and when removed 
from them, he became utterly destitute. Lazarus 
was a sick and sore beggar at his gate, content if he 
could get the crumbs from the rich man's table and 
share them with the dogs. He died and went to 
Abraham's bosom, the place of blessedness in Hades. 
He received in this life his evil things. We are led 

iLk. xii, 20. 2Lk. xii. 21. ^Lk. xvi. 19-31. 



192 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

to infer the character of the two from their place of 
destination. But a further hint of the character of 
Dives is given in his own words, where he desires 
that Lazarus may be sent to warn his brethrenr^to 
repent, lest they go also to the place of torment. 
Dives was not only a rich man, but a selfish, bad 
man, who indulged himself, and neglected the poor 
at his gates. He laid up no treasure in heaven, but 
rather earned penalty in Hades. Lazarus was re- 
warded, not because he was poor, but because he 
was good. The dogs were fond of him— an uncom- 
mon thing in the East. Dives had treasure on 
earth, but not in heaven. Lazarus had treasure in 
heaven, but none on earth. 

Jesus in an early logion in the Galilean ministry, 
made the Will of the Father the ethical norm, and the 
not doing that Will sin.^ So at the close of the Ser- 
mon on the Mount, it is a sin involving sure destruc- 
tion not to do the words of Jesus himself.^ In his 
Commission of the Twelve and of the Seventy, the 
disciples were to testify against the sin of those who 
did not receive them as messengers of God, and fol- 
low their preaching. And on their return Jesus said 
that it would be more tolerable in the Judgment for 
Tyre and Sodom, than for those cities which rejected 
his teaching and that of his disciples.^ 

Jesus came into conflict with the Pharisees as to 
questions of casuistry, when he showed that it was a 
sin to violate the principle of love, rather than the 
letter of the Sabbath Law.^ He asserted in his dis- 



iSee p. 38. 2 See p. 51. ^ See p. 53 sq. * See p. 130 sq. 



SIN AND JUDGMENT. 193 

cussions as to the Law, that the Law was more 
searching in its requirements than the Pharisees rec- 
ognized, as it demanded not merely external con- 
formity in literal, logical obedience, but also the in- 
ternal conformity of speech, look and mind ; and that 
therefore merely external conformity without inter- 
nal conformity was hypocrisy.^ This is exactly what 
Jesus charges against the Pharisees, whom he repre- 
sents as hypocrites, in their own conduct ; and also as 
blind guides misleading others, serpents, children 
of the devil, because they tempted and misled others 
to sin, and made them children of Gehenna, doomed 
to final judgment in Gehenna.^ 

Jesus, in his Perean ministry, distinguishes be- 
tween sins that are pardonable, and a sin that is 
unpardonable.^ The original at the basis of the ver- 
sions was probably this : 

" All their sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men. 
And all their blasphemies wherewithsoever they blaspheme: 
But whosoever shall blaspheme against the Spirit, shall not 
be forgiven. 

Whosoever shall speak against the Son of man, it shall be 

forgiven (him) : 
But whosoever shall speak against the Spirit, it shall not be 

forgiven (him). 
Neither in this age, nor in the age which is to come." * 

This passage brings before us very clearly the dif- 
ferences in degrees of sin, when the same act of sin 

1 See p. 145. 2 See p. 185 sq. 

3 Mk. iii. 28-29; Mt. xii. 31-32; Lk. xii. 10. 
* See The Incarnation of the Lord, p. 18. 



194 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

is directed towards different objects. The blas- 
phemy of the Son of Man, the Messiah, is a sin of 
serious degree; it is a sin against an ethical norm 
higher than the Law; and yet it is pardonable : ^but" 
the sin against the divine Spirit is higher still, the 
supreme sin ; and so blasphemy against the Spirit is 
unpardonable. This is variously stated; by Luke 
simply as unpardonable; by Mark as unpardonable 
in the everlasting time, because it is an everlasting 
sin ; by Matthew as a sin which cannot be pardoned 
in either of the two divisions of time: namely this 
age of the world, or the coming age of the Messiah. 
This raises the question, which is not answered, 
whether other sins may be pardoned in the coming 
age, if they should not be pardoned here.^ 

At the feast of Dedication, Jesus said: *^ Every 
one that committeth sin is the bondsman of sin/'^ 
This is a reiteration of a conception of sin familiar 
to the Old Testament religion, where, as in the story 
of Cain and Abel,^ sin is conceived as a wild beast, 
trying to enter a man and get possession of him. A 
similar idea is at the basis of the conception of 
demoniacal possession, especially in this passage: 

" The unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, 
Passeth through waterless places, seeking rest and finding 

none. 
He saith ' I will return unto my house whence I came out * ; 
And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. 



1 See Messiah of the Gospels, pj). 180-181. 

2 Jn. viii. 34. 'Gen. iv. 7; cf. Ps. xix. 1, ix. 13. 



SIN AND JUDGMENT. 195 

Then goeth he, and taketh seven other spirits, more evil than 

himself, 
And they enter in and dwell there: 
And the last state of that man is worse than the first." ^ 

We may now consider the consequences of sin as 
stated by Jesus at the feast of Dedication. ^ Looking 
at the man blind from birth, the disciples asked 
Jesus :/^ Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that 
he should be born blind!'' That is, they regarded 
the blindness of the man as a penalty for sin: but 
they did not know whether it was a penalty for the 
sin of the man himself, or a penalty for the sins of 
his parents. Jesus denies both of these alternatives : 
* ^ Neither did this man sin, nor his parents ' ' ; that is, 
in reply to the question ^^that he should be bom 
blind." His blindness was not a penalty for sin. 
Jesus indicates that there was another purpose in 
the plan of God, namely, ^'that the works of God 
should be made manifest in him, ' ' that is, that Jesus 
might heal him of his blindness. Jesus did not say 
that this was the only reason of his blindness; but 
that the purpose he mentioned was a reason. It is 
of some importance that we have this word of Jesus 
against the current view of that time, that there is a 
necessary connection between sin and disease. 

Disease may be the result of sin; it often is such 
a result, but it is not always so. Sometimes the in- 
nocent suffer more in this world than the guilty ; and 
a cruel wrong would often be done, if we should infer 
sinfulness from sickness and misery. The friends 

1 Mt. xii. 43-45; Lk. xi. 24-26. 

2 Jn. ix. 2-3. 



196 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

of Job tried this, and were rebuked for it. But the 
error persisted among the Jews, notwithstanding the 
story of Job. And it persists among Christians not- 
withstanding the teaching of Jesus. 

In this connection Jesus said: ^'For judgment 
came I into this world, that they which see not may 
see; and that they which see may become blind. 
Those of the Pharisees which were with him heard 
these things, and said unto him : Are we also blind ! 
Jesus said unto them: If ye were blind, ye would 
have no sin; but now ye say. We see; your sin re- 
maineth."^ A sin of blindness and ignorance is, 
comparatively speaking, no sin ; but a sin of sight, of 
knowledge, is a sin where guilt abides. 

Similarly at his last discourse in Jerusalem,^ Jesus 
said : ^ ' If I had not come and spoken unto them, they 
had not had sin; but now they have no excuse for 
their sin." ^'If I had not done among them the 
works which none other did, they had not had sin; 
but now have they both seen and hated both me and 
my Father." 

Jesus in his late Galilean ministry comes to the 
consideration of sin from the contrast between the in- 
ward and the outward in the matter of purification. 
The occasion is given by the objection of the Phari- 
sees to his disciples for not making ceremonial ablu- 
tions before meals. He considers the ceremonial 
laws of purification in relation to internal ethical 
principles.^ 

1 Jn. ix. 39-41. 2 Jn. xv. 22, 24. 

» Mk. vii. 14-25; Mt. xv. 10-20; Koivdg = hn. See Lv. x. 10. A 
person became i<nc or hn ceremonially by contact with dead bodies, 



SIN AND JUDGMENT. 197 

According to the sensitive Levitical conception, as 
elaborated from the Levitical laws into the Pharisaic 
usage, the peril of defilement was constantly great; 
and ceremonies were often repeated to avoid any pos- 
sibility of snch uncleanness. The Pharisees magni- 
fied the conception of the sources of uncleanness so 
as to lose sight of ethical considerations. They 
merged, as it were, the ethical in the physical, the 
moral in the ceremonial. 

Jesus now made a strong antithesis to all this ex- 
ternal, purely physical source of uncleanness. The 
common basis for Mark and Matthew was probably 
this : 

" That which cometh into the man defileth not ; 
On the contrary that defileth which cometh out of the man." ^ 

Defilement comes from within a man and not from 
without a man. The heart is the seat of the moral 
character in Old and New Testaments. Jesus, in an 
additional couplet, specifies some of this defilement. 
In the original he mentioned only evil thoughts and 
violations of the 6th, 7th and 8th commandments. 

" Out of the heart of man proceedeth evil thoughts. 
Murders, adulteries, thefts and suchlike."^ 



by issues, and by the use of unclean animals; and the ceremonial 
purifications were to remove this uncleanness. 

iMk. vii. 15; Mt. xv. 11. 

2The original logion doubtless contained only those given above. 
Besides these there are two common to Matthew and Mark, iropve'iai 
and pXaccpTj/LLia. Only one is peculiar to Matthew ipevSofxaprvpiac. 
Mark has then seven others : TrAeove^lai, Tcovr/piaij 662.0^, aailyeia^ 
b(^-&a'k[iog irov7jp6g, vTrepj]^avi.a^ a<ppocvvr]. Harnack and Resch are of the 
opinion that the list in the logion was much shorter even than Mat- 
thew's list, and that it closed with the words koI to, b/xoia rovroig^ 



198 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

The evangelists add other specifications and so do 
other early Christian writers. Those of Jesus were 
only violations of the Ten Commandments. The 
additions cover the ground of post-exilic Biblicalr 
ethics, as well as of Biblical ethics and even New Tes- 
tament ethics and Christian ethics. 

Jesns is virtually taking the position that ethical 
defilement is the real defilement; and that it comes 
out of the man himself, and not merely from his ex- 
ternal organism, from his body and its appetites. 
Sin is not physical from without ; it is not even phys- 
ical from within. The heart, the intellectual and 
moral nature of man, is the fountain source of his 
ethical defilement. His heart is defiled, and the de- 
filement of the heart comes out in speech and be- 
haviour. Man in his inner nature is ethically defiled. 

It is thus evident that while Jesus is very tender 
and mild in his judgment of sinners, and of sin, so 
far as it is a sin of ignorance, a sin of the poor and 
despised people; he is very severe and stem in his 
judgment of sins of knowledge, and of sins of the 
rich, the mighty and the learned. Sin is taken out 
from under the category of Law and put in the light 
of the Will of the Father and the Words of the Son. 
It is tested not only by duty but by love. It is taken 
apart from the estimation of men, and put in the esti- 

on the ground of Gal. v. 19-21 and the catalogues of such sins in 
De aleatorihus, c. 5: Pseudo. Clem. i. 8; Herm. Mand. viii. 5; 
Epiphan. Haer. Iviii. 2. In the Didache the list is much longer, men- 
tion'.ng in all no less than twenty-four specific sins. Furthermore it 
omits from those mentioned in the Gospels aatAyeia^ (ilaacprjiiia, acppoavvrj, 
dip'&aX/j.bg TTOvrjpog, and 6ia2,oyia/jui Tzovrjpot. 



SIN AND JUDGMENT. 199 

mation of the Searclier of hearts. Sin has its seat 
in the innermost man, and especially in the mind. 
When it is enthroned there, external conformity to 
Law amounts to bnt little. It rather enhances the 
gnilt of the sin, because it shows that the avoidance 
of sin is simply and alone from the fear of men, and 
not from the fear of God; for that which God sees, 
the inner man, remains altogether sinful. That only 
is righteous in the man which his fellow men can see 
and estimate. Hypocrisy, moral blindness and the 
craftiness of the serpent, intensify the guilt. To 
Jesus, sin reaches its intensity in blasphemy of the 
divine Spirit, in opposing and misrepresenting his 
divine work of teaching and training men for the 
kingdom of God. 

Jesus' conception of sin can be understood fully 
only when we have studied his judgment scenes. He 
emphasizes the fact that judgment extends to the 
words of a man. 

"Every idle word that men speak. 
They shall give account thereof in the (day of) Judgment. 
For by thy words thou shalt be justified. 
And by thy words thou shalt be condemned." ^ 

The (day of) Judgment here, according to the usage 
of Matthew, 2 is the final judgment at the end of the 
Dispensation. Then not only deeds will be taken 
into consideration, whether they conform to the eth- 
ical ideal, but also words. Some words will condemn 
and so exclude from the kingdom. Other words will 
be approved and justified. 

1 Mt. xii. 36-37. 2 See Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 310 sq. 



200 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JE8US. 

Jesus gives a number of parables which involve 
the judgment at the end of the age of the world. 

When interpreting the parable of the Tares, Jesus 
said '} ' ' The Son of man shall send forth his angefe^ 
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things 
that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and 
shall cast them into the furnace of fire : there shall 
be the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall 
the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom 
of their Father.'' 

Jesus said in his application of the parable of the 
Drag-net :2 "^o shall it be at the End of the Age: 
the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from 
among the righteous and shall cast them into the fur- 
nace of fire. There shall be the weeping and gnash- 
ing of teeth. ' '^ 

Here at the end of the age is a judgment of men. 
The angels separate the two classes, as the result of 
that judgment ; the wicked, the doers of iniquity are 
cast into Gehenna, and the righteous shine as the sun 
in the kingdom of glory. 

The parable of the Marriage Feast^ presents three 
classes: (1) the Pharisees who refuse the call and 
who murder the prophets; (2) the publicans and sin- 

1 Mt. xiii. 41-43; see Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 208 sq. 
Mt. xiii. 49-50; see Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 209 sq. 

3 Mt. adds as usual the interpretation : " There shall be the weeping 
and gnashing of teeth/' and substitutes for an original Gehenna its 
interpretation " the furnace of fire." Neither of these expressions 
did, Jesus himself use. These judgment scenes are based on Dan. 
xii. 2-3. 

* Mt. xxii. 1-14; of, Lk. xiv. 15-24; Messiah of the Gospels, p. 216. 



SIN AND JUDGMENT. 201 

ners wlio come without the wedding-robe; (3) the 
publicans and sinners who come with the wedding- 
robe. It is common to interpret the wedding-robe as 
if it were Christ's righteousness, imputed to the sin- 
ner to cover his nakedness in sin ; but there is nothing 
in text, or context to suggest such a reference ; and 
there is nothing of the kind in the teaching of Jesus. 
He teaches in the previous parable, what he teaches 
throughout, that men after repentance must do the 
will of God; be conformed in conduct to the ethical 
ideal. This is what Jesus means here by the wed- 
ding garment, a character which has been gained by 
good conduct, good works, a good heart. The man 
without the wedding garment is a wicked man, like 
the corresponding evil doer of the other passages. 
He has come professing repentance, but there is no 
reality in it; there are no good deeds to attest it. 
Therefore he receives the same punishment that they 
received. ' ' Then the king said to his servants : Bind 
him hand and foot, and cast him out into the outer 
darkness;^ for many are called, but few chosen. "^ 
The outer darkness is in antithesis with the light of 
the festal hall. 

The parable of the unfaithful Servant^ puts in 
antithesis, faithful and unfaithful servants ; not be- 
lievers and unbelievers, as they are so often inter- 



' " There shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth," the usual 
phrase of Matthew, is added. 
2 Mt. xxii. 13-14. 

3 Cf . parallel places in Mt. xxiv. 45-51; Lk. xii. 41-46; Messiah of 
the Gospels, pp. 221 sq. 



202 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

preted. The faithful servant is one who is faithful 
to his lord in the administration of the affairs of the 
household, who is careful, provident and obedient 
to his lord. The unfaithful servant is wasteful, ex- 
travagant, quarrelsome, intemperate. His punish- 
ment in the day of judgment is: that his master 
* ^ shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with 
the unfaithful. ^'1 

Luke gives supplementary material here, which is 
omitted by Matthew. The original logion, apart 
from explanatory insertions and minor changes, was 
probably this: 

" He who knew his lord's will and did it not, 
Shall be beaten with many stripes; 
But he who knew it not and did it not. 
Shall be beaten with few stripes. 
To whomsoever much is given, 
Of him shall much be required; 
To whom they commit much. 
Of him will they ask the more." ^ 

The Will of the Lord is the ethical norm common 
to both servants. They agree in the act of trans- 
gression, and are therefore guilty and will receive 
punishment. They differ in knowledge of the Will 
of God; and accordingly there is a distinction be- 
tween wilful transgression, and transgression by 
neglect, carelessness, inattention and other circum- 
stances of ignorance. There are degrees of con- 



1 So Luke; but Matthew has "with the hypocrites" and also 
" there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth," as usual. 

2 Lk. xii. 47-48. 



SIN AND JUDGMENT. 203 

formity to the ethical norm and degrees of trans- 
gression. There are accordingly degrees of guilt 
and of punishment. This punishment takes place at 
the day of judgment. Therefore there are different 
degrees of punishment in Gehenna. It is not said 
whether this is a difference in duration of punish- 
ment, or in severity of punishment. The analogy of 
human punishment would favour both difference of 
time and degree. At the same time the story sug- 
gests that stripes, however severe, complete the pun- 
ishment, and are followed by a release from punish- 
ment after the penalty has been exacted. 

The parables of the Talents and the Pounds, while 
dealing chiefly with the rewards of the faithful, also 
condemn the unfaithful servant who neglected to use 
his trust. The parable of the Virgins also presents 
the condemnation of the foolish virgins, who ne- 
glected to prepare for their Lord, and were not 
watchful for his advent. These prepare us for the 
judgment scene depicted by Jesus.^ 

I. 

" When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the 

angels with him, 
Then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: 
And before him will be gathered all the nations: 
And he shall separate them one from another. 
As the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats: 
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats 

on the left. 



1 Mt. XXV. 31-46; see General Introduction to the Study of Eoly 
Scripture, p. 405, where I have discussed the relation of the present 
version to the original. 



204 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

II. 

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, 

Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom, 

Which was prepared for you from the foundation of the^ 

world : 
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, 

and ye gave me drink: 
I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed 

me: 
I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came 

unto me. 

III. 

Then shall the righteous answer him. Lord, 

When saw we thee an hungred and fed thee? or athirst and 

gave thee drink? 
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, 

and clothed thee? 
When saw we thee sick, and visited thee? or in prison, and 

came unto thee? 
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say 

unto you. 
Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these least of my brethren, 

ye did it unto me. 

IV. 

Then shall the King say also unto them on the left hand, 

Depart from me, ye cursed, into Gehenna, 

Which is prepared for the devil and his angels: 

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was 

thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye 

clothed me not; 
I was sick, and ye visited me not: I was in prison, and ye 

came not unto me. 



SIN AND JUDGMENT. 205 

Y. 

Then shall the wicked answer him, Lord, 

When saw we thee an hungred (and did not give thee meat), 

or athirst (and gave thee not to drink) ; 
(When saw we thee) a stranger (and took thee not in), or 

naked (and clothed thee not) ; 
(When saw we thee) sick (and did not visit thee), or in 

prison (and did not come unto thee). 
Then shall he answer and say unto them, Yerily I say unto 

you. 

Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye 
did it not unto me." ^ 

It is evident that this is a judgment by Jesus the 
Messiah at the end of the Age of this world, at his 
second Advent, and that it is according to works. 
The works here are good works, deeds of kindness 
and of Christian love. Both classes of men make 
profession of his lordship. Neither are conscious 
of any personal service required by Christ, which 
they have neglected. Both of these classes are ap- 
parently professing Christians.^ They say ^ ' Lord, ' ' 
and are evidently unconscious of any neglect of duty, 
or any kind of law-breaking. They are innocent in 
their own eyes. But Jesus pronounces them ac- 
cursed, and assigns them to Gehenna, because of 
their failure in deeds of Christ-like love. The right- 
eous are approved for their deeds of love. Here 

1 The evangelist adds as an explanatory clause : " And these shall 
go away into eternal punishment; but the righteous into eternal 
life." 

2 They are like those of Mt. vii. 22-23, who say: "Lord, Lord"; 
and claim intimacy with him, and apostolic service; and yet were 
workers of iniquity. See p. 50. 



206 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

again Jesus rises to the ethical norm, which he has 
taught elsewhere, that love is righteousness; the 
righteous are those, who do deeds of love ; and upon 
just such deeds their everlasting future will dependi — ^ 
These loving deeds will receive approval and reward 
in the kingdom of glory. The neglect of such loving 
deeds incurs the doom of Gehenna. 



XV. 

Seevice and Eeward. 

Jesus regards the life of his disciples as a service. 
This is an ethical idea familiar in the Old Testament. 
All true worshippers of God, who adhered to the 
religion of Yahweh and were faithful, were servants 
of Yahweh. The prophets were servants in a special 
sense; and highest of all was the ideal servant of 
Yahweh of the 2nd Isaiah.^ Jesus takes up this 
familiar ideal of the Old Testament and gives it a 
more extensive and intensive meaning. He extends 
the service so as to embrace, not only the service of 
the Father by doing His will, but also the service of 
the Son by following him, and the service of man- 
kind by ministering to them. He also makes it more 
intense by adding to the lawful obligatory service 
the higher service of voluntary Christian love. 

The service of Jesus, the Lord, is hearing and 
doing his words, but it is also following him as a 
faithful disciple. ^ ^ Following ^ ' is used in the Gos- 
pels in three senses. 

(1) The word ^^ follow^' is used a number of times 
in the physical sense of following without regard to 
discipleship.2 

1 Messianic Prophecy, pp. 337 sq.; 491 sq. See also New Hehrew 
Lexicon BDB, the word nay. 

2Mk. V. 37; x. 32; x. 52 = Mt. xx. 34 = Lk. xviii. 43; Mk. xiv. 
13; Mk. xiv. 51=:Lk. xxii. 10; Mk. xiv, .54 = Mt, xxvi 58 = Lk. 

207 



208 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

(2) " Following '' is used of disciples in gen- 
eral. Many such are mentioned as early as the call 
of Matthew.^ We must probably include here the 
following of the women who ministered unto Jesus^^--^ 

(3) Usually, however, in the Synoptic Gospels, 
*' follow'' is used of the special call to apostolic min- 
istry. This call we shall consider in our next 
chapter.^ 

We shall limit ourselves in this chapter to the fol- 
lowers in general. In the Gospel of John there are 
several passages where ^^ follow" is used in this 
sense. 

^ ' I am the light of the world : he that f olloweth me 
shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the 
light of life. ''4 

''I am come a light into the world, that whosoever 
believeth on me may not abide in the darkness.''^ 

It is probable that these are two different forms 
of the same logion. The followers of Christ here 
are coextensive with believers, and are not those 
called to a specific ministry. Following Jesus is a 
going out of the region of darkness and walking in 
the light of life. 

In the allegory of the Good Shepherd,^ the sheep 
follow the shepherd, after the custom of the Orient. 

xxii. 54; also Mt. ix. 19, 27; Lk. xxiii. 27; Jn. xi. 31; xiii. 36-37; 
xviii. 15; xx. 6. It is also used of the crowd following him to hear 
and to learn from him. Mk. iii. 7 = Mt. xii. 15; Mk. v. 24; Mk. 
xi. 9 = Mt. xxi. 9; also Mt. iv. 25; viii. 1, 10; xiv. 13; xix. 2; xx. 
29; Lk. vii. 9; ix. 11 ; Jn. vi. 2. 

iMk. ii. 15. 2]V[k. xv. 41; Mt. xxvii. 55; Lk. xxiii. 49. 

3 See pp. 224 sq. ^ Jn. viii. 12. ^ Jn. xii. 4G. e ji^, x. 4, 5, 27. 



I 



SERVICE AND REWARD. 209 

In the explanation Jesus says : ^ ' My sheep hear my 
voice, and I know them, and they follow me. " It is 
evident that here all the sheep of the good Shepherd 
are in the mind of the Master, and not any special 
ones among them. These two passages therefore 
teach a following of Christ as Light and Shepherd, 
and this as the ethical norm for all Christians. 

Jesns however lays the greatest stress m his teach- 
ing npon following him in the service of man, and 
especially in a sphere beyond that of legal obliga- 
tion, in voluntary Godlike and Christlike love. In 
this latter sphere arises the doctrine of reward in 
the kingdom of glory, and from this point of view the 
kingdom is the ideal which Christians are to seek 
above all things. 

Matthew^ gives a logion in the midst of the Ser- 
mon on the Mount, which is in more appropriate con- 
text in Luke^ in the Perean ministry. 

1. " Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat ;' 

(Be not anxious) for your body, what ye shall put on. 

Is not the life more than the food? 

(Is not) the body (more) than the raiment ? 

2. Consider the ravens:* they do not sow; 
They do not reap or gather into barns;" 
And God ® feedeth the (ravens) : 

Are not ye of more value than birds ? 

1 Mt. vi. 25-34. 

2 Lk. xii. 22-32 ; a fragment of this logion has been preserved in 
Mk. iv. 24 c. 

3 In late Mss. of Matthew " or what ye shall drink." 
* Matthew generalizes into " birds of heaven." 

5 Luke expands into " storehouse " and " barn." 
fi Matthew substitutes " your heavenly Father " for the " God " 
of Luke. 
14 



210 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

3. Why are ye anxious concerning raiment ? ^ 
Can ye add a cubit unto your length of life? 

If ye are not able to do even that which is least. 
Why are ye anxious concerning the rest? 

4. Consider the anemones/ how they grow: 
They do not toil or spin; 

Yet even Solomon in all his glory. 
Was not arrayed like one of these. 

5. The grass is in the field today. 
And tomorrow is cast into the oven. 
If God so clothe the grass, 

How much more will He clothe you ? ' 

6. Seek ye not what ye shall eat and drink; 

Be not anxious what ye shall be clothed with,* 
Eor all these things do the nations seek:'' 
Your Father knows that ye have need of them. 

7. Therefore seek the kingdom of God,' 

And all these things will be added unto you. 

Be not anxious for the morrow. 

For the morrow will be anxious for itself." ^ 



1 Matthew has preserved the original of this line, only gives it 
last. Matthew condenses the last two lines into one. 

2 These flowers were not lilies^ but the wild flower of the anemone 
type; a brilliant scarlet flower, growing in meadows and grain fields. 

3 This strophe has been made into one long sentence in the Greek 
translation in both Matthew and Luke. In the original it could 
not have been so. 

* Matthew combines the two verbs in the latter clause. Luke uses 
both, but omits the reference to clothing. 

6 Matthew omits " world," which is an expression of Luke. 

G Matthew adds " his righteousness " in accordance with the 
stress he lays on righteousness in other places, where we have found 
it peculiar to this Gospel; see p. 158. 

' The last line " sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof " is a 
gloss. The following couplet of Lk. xii. 32 does not belong here 
though cognate in some respects : " Fear not, little flock. . It is 
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 



1 



SERVICE AND REWARD. 211 

The whole stress of this singularly beautiful logion 
is upon the idea that the disciple is to seek the king- 
dom of God. The kingdom of God is, in such a pass- 
age, the kingdom of glory, and not the Church. The 
disciple is to aim above all things for an entrance into 
the kingdom of glory, at the second Advent of Jesus 
Christ, when the judgment will take place according 
to works. Matthew is entirely correct in explaining 
this by adding ^^righteousness," because it is just 
this kind of righteousness, which is essential in order 
to gain an entrance into the kingdom of God. The 
disciple is to be extremely anxious in this pursuit; 
and so anxious that he cannot be anxious about the 
things of this life. What are bread and drink and 
clothing to a man whose entrance into the kingdom 
is in question! As regards these things of bodily 
necessity, God knows we have need of them, and He 
will provide for these needs, if we on our part seek 
the one essential thing. 

This exhortation should not be abused in the inter- 
est of carelessness and improvidence. This promise 
of God^s care is solely and alone for those who make 
His kingdom the sole aim of their lives. There is no 
promise here to provide for those who do not seek His 
kingdom as the one thing, or for those who seek 
partly His kingdom and partly other things : still less 
for those who are anxious about those things. This 
is not given as a general law of God 's providence, that 
He will take the same care of all human beings that 
He takes of the birds and the flowers. Those, who 



212 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

make it their business in this life to be anxious about 
food and raiment, get their reward in the food and 
raiment which they secure. If they fail, they must 
take the consequences. They cannot fall back on^a- 
promise of Him who feeds the ravens and clothes the 
flowers; for He has made no such promise to those 
who have sought first these things and have failed to 
secure them. There are no promises to the lazy, the 
slothful, the improvident, or the unsuccessful. Those 
who are anxious about the things of this life, as are 
the heathen, generally secure them. Those who are 
anxious about the kingdom of God, secure it, and, in 
addition to that, God's special care and provision for 
their physical comfort. Those who are not anxious 
for either heaven or earth are not likely to secure 
either heaven or earth. 

Both Matthew and Luke attach the logion as to 
heavenly treasures to the logion as to the anxious 
seeking of the kingdom; but in different order. In 
Matthew it precedes, in Luke it follows.^ It should 
in any case be considered here. The original at the 
basis of the two texts was probably the following :^ 

" Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, 
Where moth and rust consume, 
And where thieves break through and steal; 

1 Mt. vi. 19-21 ; Lk. xii. 33-34. 

2 Luke prefixes a couplet which is cognate and yet different. 

" Sell that ye have, and give alms. 
Make for yourselves purses which wax not old." 

This is a counsel of perfection^ to those who will follow the Mes- 
siah, to sell all that they have and give to the poor. It belongs to 
those who have the special call. See p. 225. 



SERVICE AND REWARD. 213 

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 

Where neither moth nor rust consume. 

And where thieves do not break through, nor steal. 

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." 

The treasures stored up in heaven are the merits 
for the good deeds on earth. Almsgiving scatters 
treasure on earth, but it stores up merit in heaven. 
Where the merit is stored up, there the reward is; 
from thence it is expected, thither the mind is di- 
rected, thither the affections go : so that the whole 
bent of the man is toward the kingdom of glory where 
he shall receive the rewards and enjoy them from the 
Master's hands. This is beyond the sphere of Law 
and of duty, but it is within the area of Christian love 
and liberty, where alone merit can be gained. 

At a Pharisee 's table in Perea, Jesus gives a para- 
ble with reference to the chief seats at feasts. He 
rebukes the Pharisees for choosing them and warns 
his disciples.^ Every man will receive the place se- 
lected for him. If a man select for himself a high 
place, in all probability he will be forced to descend 
in humiliation and shame to a lower place. If he 
begin at the bottom, he will be called higher, and as 
high as he can go and stay with propriety. This 
parable is enforced by the logion used elsewhere in 
Luke. 

"Everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled; 
He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.'"' 

This is an ethical principle of great importance. 



Lk. xiv. 1-11. 2Lk. xviii. 14: Mt. xxiii. 12. 



214 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

None is so commonly disregarded. There is a dis- 
tressing rush for the highest and best places, and 
there are few who are fit for them. The conse- 
quence is that a large portion of time in this life^^ 
is spent in pulling down and pushing out the usurp- 
ers, who mismanage, disorganize and confuse things ; 
not able to lead and guide themselves, and standing 
in the way of those who have the gift of leadership, 
and who are entitled to the high places. Everywhere 
the highest seats are filled with figure-heads and in- 
competents, who will eventually, as surely as water 
descends to its level, be displaced and degraded. 
Others who are in humble places will be called to the 
high places where they belong. Nothing can be more 
perilous to a man than for him to choose for himself 
a chief seat, or high place. 

Jesus warns his disciples:^ ^^When thou makest a 
dinner, or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy 
brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; lest 
haply they also bid thee again, and a recompense be 
made thee." Social invitations have their own rec- 
ompense through corresponding social invitations. 
There is no merit in them. ^ ^ But when thou makest 
a feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the 
blind: and thou shalt be blessed; because they have 
not wherewith to recompense thee : for thou shalt be 
recompensed in the resurrection of the just." This 
is not a command but an exhortation. It does not 
prohibit social invitations between those of the same 

1 Lk. xiv. 12-14. 



SERVICE AND REWARD. 215 

station of society; but it calls attention to the fact, 
that there is no merit to be gained in that way. If 
one would have merit, he must forego recompense in 
this world, and do those things that will be regarded 
as meritorious, and will be recompensed at the resur- 
rection. A feast to the poor and the sick is just 
such an opportunity. They can never repay it. God 
alone can repay it, and He will do so. This is in 
the liberty of love where alone Christian merit and 
heavenly reward may be gained. 

Jesus in his parable of the Wise Steward presents 
the seeking of reward in heaven from another point 
of view.^ The steward is threatened with being 
called to an account of his stewardship, and then 
with a discharge for wastefulness. He was not 
honest, but he was shrewd. He used the brief time 
he had in service, in preparation for the future. He 
gained an interest in all the debtors by reducing their 
debts, and so stored up recompense with them after 
he had lost his stewardship. This steward was un- 
righteous and dishonest; there can be no doubt of 
that. But he was shrewd and wise. And he was so 
shrewd that his shrewdness overcame his dishonesty, 
and so attracted the attention of his lord that he com- 
mended him for it. Jesus does not urge his dis- 
ciples to follow this steward in his dishonesty, but 
in his shrewdness; in providing for their future as 
he provided for his future. He provided, as a child 
of this world, for his life in this world. They, as 

1 Lk. xvi. 1-9. 



216 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESU8. 

children of light, should provide lor their residence 
in the realm of light and eternal life. 

" Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of un^ — - 
righteousness ; 
That, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal 
tabernacles." 

The meaning of this logion is evident. The mam- 
mon of nnrighteonsness, the wealth acquired in this 
world, which has more or less unrighteousness in 
connection with its acquisition, will fail everyone at 
death ; it is temporal and belongs only to this age of 
the world. It is wise to make use of it, so as to pro- 
vide for the coming age, the age of the Messiah, the 
age of the eternal tabernacles or dwellings. Men 
should desire above all things to gain an entrance into 
them, to be welcomed in them. They need merit, 
recompense stored up there for that purpose. They 
may store up merit, wealth, friends there, by the use 
of wealth in this world. That is the glory and ad- 
vantage of wealth.! 

Luke gives here several logia between two para- 
bles.2 Some of these are appropriately linked to- 
gether in this place. 



I 



1 The rendering of the A.V. " make to yourselves friends of " 
though correct in old English, in modern English leads to a misin- 
terpretation of the passage, as if Christians were to seek their 
friends among wicked men in order to use them and their wealth 
for the kingdom of God. 

2 Lk, xvi. 10-13: one of these is in Mt. vi. 24; others in Mt. xi. 
12-13, 18, 32; xix. 9; Mk. x. 11. 



SERVICE AND REWARD. 217 

1. " He that is faithful in a very little, 

Is faithful also in much: 

And he that is unrighteous in a very little, 

Is unrighteous also in much. 

2. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous 

mammon, 
Who will commit to your trust the true? 
And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another's. 
Who will give you that which is your own? 

3. Ko servant can serve two masters: 

For either he will hate the one, and love the other; 
Or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. 
Ye cannot serve God and mammon." 

The little of earthly riches, the so-called unright- 
eous mammon, which men really hold in trust for 
God, is so used by men as to determine whether they 
may be entrusted with heavenly treasures, which are 
the true ones, and which are designed to be so given 
that they will be really ours. The test is whether 
the man will be faithful, or unfaithful, righteous 
or unrighteous, in their use; whether he will use 
them by serving them, as master, or whether he will 
use them, as serving the real master God. Man can- 
not serve God and mammon at the same time. The 
way in which he can avoid serving mammon is to 
serve God. The mammon of earth is to be used to 
secure heavenly treasures. 

Jesus about the same time gives another parable, 
which may be considered here.^ The servant who 
has completed his labour in the field, is not rewarded 

1 Lk. xvii. 7-10. 



218 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

at once with rest and refreshment. He has addi- 
tional labour to perform in waiting upon his master, 
until the master has been refreshed. He is not per- 
mitted rest and refreshment for himself until allhig" 
labour his been completed. And even then the ser- 
vant receives no thanks ; he has simply done his duty, 
nothing more. * ^ Even so ye also, when ye shall have 
done all the things that are commanded you, say: 
*We are unprofitable servants; we have done that 
which it was our duty to do.' '' 

The lesson of the parable is that the disciples are 
obligated to serve God, according to all His com- 
mands ; and then, when they have fulfilled them all, 
they have done no more than their duty and are not 
entitled to any reward. All this is in the region of 
lawgiving, of keeping commands, of fulfilling obli- 
gations. The cpmmon interpretation of this passage 
is, that the Christian at the best can only be an un- 
profitable servant, and can not therefore do work 
that will gain merit.^ If the whole of the ethics of 
Christ could be included under the head of command- 
ment, this interpretation would be unavoidable. But 
we have seen in many passages^ that Jesus teaches 

1 This is expressed in the Westminster Confession (Chap. 16, 4). 
" They, who in their obedience, attain to the greatest height which 
is possible in this life, are so far from being able to supererogate, 
and to do more than God requires, that they fall short of much 
which is duty they are bound to do." The chief proof text for this 
is Lk. xvii, 10. The other proof texts are altogether irrelevant, and 
if this be irrelevant the whole clause should be omitted as without 
support in Holy Scripture. This same passage is used with the 
same irrelevancy to Works of Supererogation in the Anglican 
Articles of Religion, XIV. 2 See pp. 100 sq. 



I 



SERVICE AND REWARD. 219 

that over and above and beyond all laws and com- 
mands, is the liberty of Christian love, in the follow- 
ing of Christ; that in this Christian perfection con- 
sists ; and that in the sphere of the Christian liberty 
of love rewards are promised, and faithful, profita- 
ble servants are rewarded. This parable of Jesus 
was not designed to go beyond the sphere of Law 
and duty. If Jesus had thought here of passing 
over into the sphere of the liberty of love, he might 
have used this servant still further. The servant 
had fulfilled all his duties in the field and in the house 
and was dismissed by the master to rest and refresh- 
ment. He had a right to his rest. But instead of 
resting, he went forth and laboured in his hours of 
rest to relieve the distress of others. He had a right 
to his supper. But instead of eating and drinking 
himself, he took his food and drink to the hungry and 
thirsty, and in self sacrifice endured hunger and 
thirst himself. This would be beyond the realm of 
duty to the master, and in the realm of freedom of 
love: and if the master were himself a kind and 
loving master, he would commend his servant for 
doing more than his duty, and would reward him by 
dealing with him also in love. That is exactly what 
Jesus says such a master does in such cases, in the 
other parables, we have already considered.^ 

There is certainly no merit in observing the Law 
and doing its commands. A punishment threatens 
the infraction of the least of these. The most that 



1 See pp. 214 sq. 



220 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESU8. 

obedience can do is the avoidance of penalty and the 
attainment of justification. But over and beyond 
Law, there is the loving forfeiture of rights, and the 
loving self-sacrifice of just privileges, which is^o^ 
legal obligation, but a counsel of perfection in a 
Christlike, Godlike life, in the realm of the liberty of 
love, whexe alone there can be works of supereroga- 
tion, and the acquirement of merit in heaven with 
God.^ 

The parable of the Pounds,^ delivered on the last 
journey to Jerusalem, according to Luke, is another 
version of the parable of the Talents, given by Mat- 
thew in connection with the eschatological discourse 
on the Mount of Olives. These set forth the rewards 
of the faithful and the principle of award, with minor 
variations. The parable of the Pounds sets forth the 
fact that wealth is a sacred trust distributed to a 
great number of persons. Ten is the number of com- 
pletion. Each servant has the same trust, a pound. 
But the servants make various uses of it. One gains 
ten pounds, another ^ve, another none. Three of the 

1 The Protestant opposition to works of supererogation arose from 
the abuse of them in the granting of indulgence from ecclesiastical 
penalties from the vast storehouse of them supposed to be laid up 
in the treasury of the Church; and from their ecclesiastical use to 
counterbalance the demerit of sins. But there is room in Protestant 
ethics for a doctrine of works of supererogation whose merit is 
stored up with God for the doer of them until the day of judgment; 
whose merit plays no part in the atonement for sin; or in the justi- 
fication of the sinner before God; but whose exercise has an im- 
portant part in his sanctification, and in the determination of his 
full salvation at the second Advent of the Lord. 

2Lk. xix. 11-28. 



I 



SERVICE AND REWARD. 221 

ten are nsed by Jesus as specimens. We may con- 
ceive of each of the others gaining in various per- 
centages between none and ten. Those who gain are 
rewarded. They have immense rewards: a city for 
every pound gained. He who gained nothing, is 
stripped of the one he had. This is a strong incul- 
cation of industry in the use of wealth for God with 
the promise of transcendent rewards in proportion to 
the amount of the gain. 

The parable of the Talents^ presents three classes 
of trusts. There is a difference in grade of ability; 
the proportion of reward is the same. Jesus' ap- 
proval is: ''Well done, good and faithful servant; 
thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set 
thee over many things. Enter thou into the joy of 
thy Lord.'' 

The common principle of these parables is the 
logion : 

"To him that hath, shall be given, and he shall have abundance. 
From him that hath not, shall be taken away that which he 
hath." ' 

The eschatological discourse of Jesus on the mount 
of Olives has two important teachings as to the atti- 
tude of the faithful disciple : 

1 Mt. XXV. 14-30; see Messiah of the Gospels, p. 224. 

2 This is given with slight variation in Lk. xix. 26, Mt. xxv. 29, but 
also in IMk. iv. 25, Mt. xiii. 12, Lk. viii. 18, in another connection, 
appended with other logia to the parable of the Sower. In the 
latter case it enforces the exhortation to use the ears to hear the 
teaching of Jesus; that is, using precious opportunities, which may 
be regarded as parallel with using talents and pounds committed 
to one's trust. 



222 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

" He that endureth to the End, 
The same shall be saved." ^ 

The End is the End of the Dispensation, when the 
Messiah will come for judgment to give his awardsT 
The award of salvation in the kingdom of glory is 
given to the one who perseveres nntil the Advent in 
faithful service. Luke puts it in the paraphrase : 

" In your patience ye shall win yourselves." ^ 

The discourse closes with an exhortation to watch- 
fulness. 

" Take heed, watch and pray : 
For ye know not when the time is." ^ 

This is followed by the parable of the Porter.* 
Matthew adds the parable of the wise and foolish 
Virgins, which appears in a condensed form in a 
more appropriate place in Luke.^ 

It is evident from all this teaching that the life of 
the disciple is to be one of constant watchfulness and 
patient endurance until the End of the Age, the Ad- 
vent of the Lord, when first the awards will be given. 
In the judgment scenes given by Matthew alone, at 
the close of the eschatological discourse, the awards 
of merit as well as those of demerit are in accordance 
with works of love, even the slightest. These even 
when done to the least of the brethren are done to 
Jesus himself. 



1 Mk. xiii. 13; Mt. xxiv. 13; cf. x. 22. 

2Lk. xxi. 19. sMk. xiii. 33; cf. Lk. xxi. 36; Mt. xxiv. 42. 

< Mk. xiii. 34-37. This appears in Matthew as the Steward, xxiv. 
45-51, which is out of place in Lk. xii. 42-46. 
6 See p. 203. 



SERVICE AND REWARD. 223 

"I was an hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and 
ye gave me drink; 
I was a stranger and ye took me in; naked and ye clothed 

me; 
I was sick and ye visited me; I was in prison and ye came 
unto me."^ 

These are all voluntary acts of Christlike love. 

1 See pp. 203 sq. 



XVI. ^^^ 

Counsels of Pekfection. 

Jesus, at the beginning of his ministry, summoned 
certain disciples to follow him in a special sense, as 
his companions and assistants. The Gospel of John 
mentions the call of Andrew and Simon, Philip and 
John, and Nathaniel.^ Jesus then calls the pairs of 
brothers, Andrew and Simon, James and John, to fol- 
low him, and they forsake their nets and their fath- 
ers, that is, their business and their homes, for this 
purpose. 2 Levi, or Matthew, is called in the same 
manner^ and forsakes all : that is his home, where he 
gives a farewell feast to his friends, and his business 
as a publican. The following of Jesus, in these in- 
stances, involved the abandonment of home and prop- 
erty, in order to companionship with Jesus in his 
ministry. He selected twelve of his disciples to be 
his companions, and gave them the Sermon on the 
Mount at their installation. In this discourse he pro- 
nounced them blessed, because of their voluntary 
poverty, and endurance of hunger, sorrow and re- 
proach, in their ministry.* He subsequently com- 
manded them to go forth in pairs in a ministry 
throughout Galilee, as his representatives. He gave 

1 Jn. i. 35-51. 

2Mk. i. 16-20; Mt. iv. 18-22; Lk. v. 1-11. 
3Mk. ii. 13-17; Mt. ix. 9-13; Lk. v. 27-32. 
*Lk. vi. 20-23. See pp. 83 sq. 

224 



COUNSELS OF PERFECTION, 225 

them a commission.^ This was probably as follows : 

1. " Go not into any way of the nations, 

Enter not into any city of the Samaritans; 
But go rather to the house of Israel, 
And enter among the lost sheep. 

2. As ye go preach, saying: 

The kingdom of God is at hand. 
. Heal the sick, raise the dead. 
Cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. 

3. Take nothing for your journey, 
No staff, no wallet, no bread, 
No gold, no silver, no brass; 

Have not two coats; be shod with sandals. 

4. And into whatsoever city ye enter. 
Search out who in it is worthy; 
As ye enter the house, salute it. 
And there abide till ye go forth. 

5. And whosoever shall not receive you, 
As ye go forth from that city. 
Shake off the dust of your feet 

For a testimony against them. 

6. When they persecute you in this city. 
Flee into the next city; 

Ye shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, 
Till the Son of Man be come." 

It is evident that these travelling preachers go 
forth in poverty, with the renunciation of everything, 

1 This is reported in brief form in Mk. vi. 7-11, Lk. ix. 1-5; but 
at great length in Mt. x. But it is evident that Matthew attaches 
to this commission, the commission of the Seventy, and material from 
the final commission, as well as logia relating to the apostolic 
ministry given on many different occasions. See New Light on the 
Life of JesuSj p. 32; Messiah of the Gospels, p. 182 sq. 
15 



226 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

entirely dependent for their daily necessities upon 
the voluntary support of those who receive them. 
Their mission was to preach the advent of the King- 
dom, and to do kind, loving deeds to the lost sheep 
of Israel. In other words they were commissioned^ 
to do exactly what Jesus himself did. They went 
forth to seek and to save the lost. 

Jesus continued to call disciples to be his compan- 
ions after the departure of the Twelve. From these 
he subsequently selected the Seventy.^ Several such 
calls are given in Luke, prior to the sending forth of 
the Seventy.^ A scribe proposes to be one of Jesus ^ 
companions. ^^ Master, I will follow thee whitherso- 
ever thou goest. ' ' Jesus warns him : 

" The foxes have holes. 
The birds have nests. 
The Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." 

The Master led a homeless life. His companions 
must look forward to the same kind of life. This 
warning has as its counterpart a call to others to fol- 
low him, with various excuses offered. The first ex- 
cuse is : ^ ' Suffer me first to go and bury my father. ' ' 
This has always been regarded as the most sacred 
duty of a son. The fifth commandment certainly re- 
quired as much as this. And yet Jesus said : 

" Leave the dead to bury their own dead ; 
But go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God." 



' New Light on the Life of Jesus, p. 33 sq. 

2 Lk. ix. 57-62. Some of these are given by Matthew before the 
sending forth of the Twelve. Mt. viii. 19-22. 



COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 227 

Luke gives a third case which is not in the Gospel of 
Matthew, but which was doubtless in the Logia of 
St. Matthew. A man, called to follow Jesus, begs for 
delay. ^'Suffer me to bid farewell to them that are 
in my house''— that is, let me do my duties to my 
family. Jesus' call is a higher summons, to which 
the lower law must yield. 

" No man having put his hand to the plow, 
And looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." 

The question now emerges whether Jesus regarded 
the call to follow him as superior to the parental law. 
If the following of Christ is a higher ethical norm 
than the Law, then it is higher than any particular 
law, whether parental or other. Some might now 
suppose that Jesus is inconsistent with himself. He 
rebukes the Pharisees for making the traditional law 
of worship higher than the written law of obligation 
to parents ; and yet he himself regards the following 
of himself in discipleship as superior to the claim of 
parents. But there is a vast difference between the 
following of Christ in a ministerial call, and the 
giving of property for public worship. We may still 
regard Christ as consistent in his teaching, if we con- 
clude that the support of parents is superior in eth- 
ical rank to the support of public worship, and that 
no one can deprive his parents to give to the support 
of the Church. But the following of Christ, in the 
special call given by the Master himself, is superior 
to the obligation to support parents, and to any and 
all obligations. It requires the abandonment of all 



228 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

property, of all family ties, and entire self-renuncia- 
tion, even to a life of persecution and a shameful 
death. In view of such a call, the obligation to par- 
ents must be secondary. ^_^y 
The saying respecting eunuchs^ may be considered 
here, although attached by Matthew to the logion 
respecting divorce, for topical reasons. 

"All men cannot receive this saying, but they to whom it is 

given ; 
For there are eunuchs, which were so bom from their mother's 

womb: 
And there are eunuchs, which were made eunuchs by men; 
And there are eunuchs, which made themselves eunuchs for 

the sake of the kingdom of God. 
He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." 

The renunciation of marriage, the consecration to 
a celibate life, may also constitute an essential fea- 
ture of following Christ. Jesus says: that all are 
not able, but some are called to it and are able. The 
greater part of the Christian world has always held 
that men and women, who consecrate themselves to 
the ministry of Christ, should be celibates. Prot- 
estants have discouraged celibacy in the ministry. 
But they have gone too far in the other extreme. It 
is often important. It sometimes goes with the call. 
Some parts of the ministerial work seem to require it. 

Jesus sent the Seventy forth for a mission in 
Perea and Judea.^ Their commission was essen- 
tially the same as that of the Twelve. They were to 

1 Mt. xix. 11-12; see Messiah of the Gospels, p. 202. 

2 Lk. X. 1 sq.; see New Light on the Life of Jesus, p. 67. 



COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 229 

go forth like lambs into a flock of wolves ; like doves 
in the midst of birds of prey. They were to go in 
poverty, without money and without change of gar- 
ments, or food; expecting to receive all that they 
needed as they went. They were to work miracles, 
healing the sick. They were to preach the kingdom 
of God. They were to go as the messengers of Christ, 
as his representatives, so that all that would be done 
to them in the way of acceptance or rejection, would 
be as if done to Christ himself. These Seventy were 
apostolic men.^ They were men called to follow 
Christ in the technical sense, with the counsels of 
perfection as their guide, relinquishing all things 
for Christ and the work of the kingdom. 

So far as we have such apostolic men now, who 
have been called by Christ to such work in his king- 
dom, and who have in fact relinquished everything 
in the way of property and family ties, and have 
devoted themselves absolutely and completely to his 
service, such may claim the Master's promises, and 
find them fulfilled in their experience. But caution 
is necessary. 

The call of the Master alone justifies such a min- 
istry. The ordinary ministry are not such apostolic 
men, are not such followers of Christ; they do not 
take the counsels of perfection as their guide. There 
is no rightful claim by the presbyters and bishops of 



1 See Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 238 sq. Matthew mingles their 
commission with that of the Twelve and includes other logia with 
these. 
14 



230 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

any of the religious denominations to the rights and 
privileges of snch a ministry, when they have not fol- 
lowed Christ in any such way as he proposes in the 
call of the Twelve and the Seventy. ^ — ^ 

The Eoman Catholic clergy are required to follow 
these counsels of perfection to some extent, so far 
as the individual is concerned; but there are organ- 
ized orders and hierarchies, which have rich invest- 
ments and endowments for the support of the clergy. 
They do not depend upon God, and a hand to mouth 
support, such as Jesus proposes in these calls of the 
Twelve and the Seventy. The Protestant and the 
Catholic clergy alike are organized in such a way as 
to guarantee a comfortable support in life during 
ministerial work. The counsels of perfection the 
Roman Catholic clergy follow in part, and the Prot- 
estant ministry not at all. But in neither case is 
there correspondence with the ideals of the Seventy 
and the Twelve. 

Apostolic men have arisen at times in the Christian 
Church, who have followed these counsels of perfec- 
tion so far as it was practicable. These have for the 
most part organized religious orders to perpetuate 
their work. Some such have appeared among Prot- 
estants. The early Methodists tried in a measure to 
follow these counsels, and the modern Salvationists 
even more so; but these have made their renuncia- 
tion chiefly financial, and even here not so thorough 
as the apostolic men of the past. 



COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 231 

It is to be feared tliat many good men and women, 
thinking that they have taken up their cross to follow 
Christ, and that they have renounced all things for 
his sake, are relying upon the promises made to the 
Twelve and the Seventy— and relying in vain ; for the 
reason that they have no such call ; they have not in 
fact complied with the Master's counsels of perfec- 
tion, and therefore they cannot take its promises and 
rewards to themselves. In other words, the call of 
the Twelve and the call of the Seventy were special 
calls of Christ himself. They were to a special min- 
istry in both cases ; and although there are doubtless 
several logia attached to them, which were given on 
other and later occasions, yet these were given to 
the Twelve, and the Seventy ; and certainly no right 
is given to anyone to claim for himself, what was 
specially given to the apostles, unless a similar spe- 
cial call can be proved also. It is said that the 
bishops of the Church are the successors of the 
apostles; but they are not their successors in any 
such sense as these teachings of Jesus imply. Apos- 
tolic men have been called by Christ himself, from 
time to time in the development of the Church, but 
they are extraordinary prophetic men, and are not 
the official clergy. They have to be discriminated 
from the clerg}^, who are certainly not, in any of the 
orders, such ministers of Christ as the Twelve and 
the Seventy were. 

Jesus continued to call from among his disciples 
these apostolic men, to whom he gave a special min- 



232 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESU8. 

istry, with warnings and exhortations. But he did 
not, so far as it appears, send forth during his min- 
istry any others bnt the Twelve and the Seventy. 

Towards the close of his ministry Jesns was vis- 
ited by a rich young ruler, to whom he gave the apos-^ 
tolic call. This is in some respects the most impor- 
tant incident of all, because it brings out more dis- 
tinctly than the others the length and breadth of the 
counsels of perfection and their relation to Law.^ 

A rich young man^ comes to Jesus with the in- 
quiry: *^ Master, what good thing shall I do, that I 
may inherit eternal life!^'^ Jesus answers: ^^Why 
askest thou me concerning that which is good! One 
there is who is good. ' '^ 

1 This incident is recorded in the three synoptists Mk. x. 17-22, 
Mt. xix. 16-22; Lk. xviii. 18-23. 

2 The three represent him as a rich man ; Matthew adds that he 
was a young man; Luke a ruler. 

3 This is the reading of Matthew in most codices, but C. Pesh. Cur. 
Vulg. et al. of Matthew read " good master " assimilated to Mark 
and Luke. This variation may go back to a common original. If 
we could read in the original Hebrew Mark rw^^ nr3 man *i1 we would 
get both renderings, either "Thou good Master" (vocative) or: 
" Master as for the good, what shall I do ? " In the one case Jesus is 
called the Good; in the other the inquiry is as to the Good, the 
ethical norm. The latter is certainly a more natural question than 
the former. There was no sufficient reason why the man should 
address Jesus as the Good. What he wanted to know was as to the 
highest Good. 

< This is the reading of Matthew in the best texts, all indeed which 
have not been assimilated to Mark and Luke, which have " why callest 
thou me good? None is good save one, God." At the basis of 
both we might find the Hebrew original man Min nnx niun "h mOK nnn 
In the one case Jesus renounces the attribute good as applied to 
himself and ascribes it to God alone. In the other case Jesus 
answers the question as to the highest good by referring to God as 
the highest Good. 



COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 233 

The norm of goodness is God, the only real per- 
fect Good. The inquirer ought to have known this 
from the Old Testament. God, as the supreme norm 
of ethics, gave to Israel the Commandments. These 
are a subordinate norm of ethics. God as the Good, 
requires that these commands should be kept.^ It 
seems most probable that Jesus gave the sixth, sev- 
enth, eighth and ninth of the Ten Commandments in 
this order as examples, and that all the other various 
material of the Gospels was due to additions by the 
evangelists. It is evident that Jesus here asserts 
that the Ten Commandments in those cited are ethi- 
cal norms. As we infer the binding force of the 
whole Ten Words from the four quoted, may we 
also infer the binding force of the whole Law of the 
Old Testament 1 This would seem to be a very large 
inference. But we should remember that Jesus is 
speaking to a Jew who recognized the binding force 
of the whole Old Testament Law. He is here by 
specimens reminding him of it all. He is not giving 
a universal Law for Christians. He could not have 
said to a Jew : keep the Ten Words and discard the 



1 Mark adds /u^ aTToarepr/ayg, " do not defraud," from Dt. xxiv. 14. 
It might be argued that it was original because there was no suffi- 
cient motive for Mark to insert it, and there was a sufficient literary 
motive for Luke and Matthew to omit it. But it might also be said, 
that it is only a synonym of the eighth Word, and may have come 
into the text from the margin or as a doublet. Matthew adds the 
summary of the second table of the Law from Mk. xii. 31. It is 
improbable that it was original. It destroys the force of what fol- 
lows. The commands are the same as Mark's and in the same order. 
Luke gives five commands in irregular order, 7, 6, 8, 9, 5. 



234 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

rest of the Law. He would not have said to human- 
ity: keep the whole Law. 

The young man claims that he has kept all these 
commands from his youth.^ There should be no 
doubt of the honesty of this man. He had keptlhe^'^ 
Law as a Pharisee. Jesus does not deny it. But the 
young man had felt the need of something more than 
obedience to the Law. He was at an early stage of 
the experience of St. Paul. He felt that after all, 
the observance of the Law had not satisfied his eth- 
ical consciousness. His conscience by its dissatisfac- 
tion urged the necessity of something higher and bet- 
ter. Jesus gave him that something else. ^^One 
thing thou lackest : go, sell, whatsoever thou hast, and 
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
heaven ; and come, follow me. ' '^ 

Matthew, instead of ^^one thing thou lackest,'' 
gives : *^if thou wouldest be perfect.'' He thus puts 
in technical language what was originally more in- 
definite. The man had kept the Law ; but he lacked 
something, he was not yet perfect. He still fell short 
of the highest Good. Jesus gives him a new ideal of 
perfection, an ethical ideal, higher than the Law, 
namely the following himself. Preliminary to that 
and entirely subordinate to it is the renunciation of 
wealth and property, and the voluntary assumption 
of poverty. 

On this passage is based one of the historic 

1 Matthew adds "What lack I yet?" This was inserted by the 
evangelist to prepare the mind for what follows. 

2 Lk. has the same idea but varies slightly in the expression of it. 



COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 235 

counsels of perfection of the Catholic Chnrcli: 
namely the vow of poverty. Jesus gave this counsel 
of perfection to this man whom he loved, because in 
no other way, at that time, could he follow Jesus,— 
who had himself renounced wealth, and voluntarily as- 
sumed poverty ; except by doing the same that Jesus 
had done. This young man was called to follow 
Jesus in the close intimacy of companionship. The 
renunciation of wealth was in order to the following 
of Christ. If the following of Christ could have been 
without the renunciation of wealth, it is not probable 
that it would have been required. 

Is this a universal call to all Christians? Is the 
renunciation of wealth a necessary part of the Chris- 
tian norm of following Christ! This is impossible. 
No one has ever thought of such an interpretation. 
It is recognized by the greater part of the Christian 
world that this is a counsel of perfection, given chiefly 
to those who undertake the Christian ministry, espe- 
cially in monastic orders. It has not been regarded 
as a universal Christian rule of ethics. It is evident 
that Jesus did not call all who believed in him to fol- 
low him in a life of poverty, while he was on earth. 
This was a special call that he gave to this man to 
be one of the inner circle of his disciples, who went 
with him wherever he went in his ministry. If it 
was a special call then, it is probable that it would 
continue to be a special call afterwards, if the call 
itself was to continue. There is doubtless a sense in 
which following Christ is the ethical norm of all 



236 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

Christians ;^ but all Christians are not to follow him 
in the specific work of this kind of discipleship ; and 
furthermore it has to be shown whether following 
him in the work of ministry requires always, or only 
in special cases and circumstances, the renunciation 
of wealth and the assumption of voluntary poverty. 

This man was called to follow Jesus in the work 
of that special kind of discipleship, which required 
continual going about with Jesus, and it was neces- 
sary in his case to renounce all wealth, and become 
poor, in order to do this. If Jesus calls all men to 
follow him in this sense ; then he may call all men to 
a life of poverty, provided the life' of poverty is es- 
sential to the following: if however it be non-essen- 
tial, but due to special circumstances, then only the 
recurrence of these special circumstances requires 
voluntary poverty. 

If Jesus ' call was a special one to a particular ser- 
vice, then only those called to that service are called 
to the life of poverty ; and even in this case the ques- 
tion arises as to the essential and the circumstantial 
in the call. 

This man was not willing to abandon his wealth 
and follow Christ. He preferred the way of the 
Pharisee to the perfect way of the Lord Jesus. 

It is now necessary for us to return to the word 
Good and inquire into its real meaning. Does it 
mean good in the sense of conformity to Law, to 
moral obligation, or duty 1 This is the usual modern 



^ See p. 208 sq. 



COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 237 

conception of ^^good," and it was that of the Phari- 
sees in the time of Jesns. Doubtless therefore in the 
question as to the good, this young Pharisee meant to 
ask for the standard, the highest law of moral obli- 
gation. But that was not the usual Biblical mean- 
ing ; and it is by no means clear that Jesus designed 
to use the word, ^^good,'' in his reply, in the same 
sense as in the question. ^'Good'' in the Old Testa- 
ment usage as applied to God, meant that God was 
good in his disposition to bestow good things; good 
in the more popular modern sense of being good to 
persons, that is kind, benignant, benevolent and bene- 
ficent. If Jesus thought of God as good in this sense 
as the norm of all kindness, goodness and benignity, 
he was thinking of Him in accordance with his ethical 
teaching elsewhere; and also in accordance with his 
counsel to this young Pharisee to transcend the Law 
and become Godlike and Christlike by sacrificing his 
wealth for the benefit of the poor and needy ; that is 
becoming good to them. God is the supreme Good, 
the giver of good things; therefore take God's good- 
ness as your ethical ideal ; follow His Christ in volun- 
tary poverty, and give your all to those who have 
need. The Synoptists give a comment on the case by 
Jesus.^ 

^^How hardly shall they that have riches enter into 
the kingdom of God ! ' '^ 

iMk. X. 23-31; Mt. xix. 23-27, 29-30; Lk. xviii. 24-30. See 
Messiah of the Gospels, p. 105 sq. 

2 So Mark and Luke, but Matthew has " It is hard for a rich man 
to enter into the kingdom of heaven." The same original IIebre\y- 
could be translated in these two different ways. 



238 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

Riches were an insuperable obstacle to this young 
man : it is often so with others. Wealth is immoral 
when it obstructs the entrance into the kingdom of 
God; not in itself, but in its abuse. This man was 
called to abandon wealth and follow Christ: he — -^ 
failed. This does not imply that he rejected the Mes- 
siah, or his salvation ; but that he refused the special 
call to service. It was a serious, ethical failure. 
He was in sight of perfection: he deliberately re- 
fused it when the call came to him. 

Jesus passes over from the particular case to a 
universal principle. Not everyone is called to aban- 
don wealth to enter the kingdom of God. But wealth 
may be a hindrance even in lesser measure. Pre- 
cisely in accordance with the measure of its obstruc- 
tive power it is an evil. If however it be used to 
further the kingdom, it will be a blessing in the same 
proportion. 

The story closes with a return to the particular 
case and the special call. The Twelve take the les- 
son to themselves, for they had accepted the call this 
man had refused. St. Peter says : ^ ' We have left all, 
and have followed thee.'^ Jesus then promises a 
reward to all such. He contemplates here not only 
those who have abandoned wealth to follow him, but 
also those who have given up many other things, 
which might also be hindrances. These are in the 
words of Jesus: houses, brethren, sisters, mother, 
father, wife, children, and lands.^ 

1 Mark and Matthew agree in the list. Luke shortened it and 
inserted " wife." All of them add other phrases to the original, 
which probably was simply " for my sake." 



COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 239 

This is not a complete list of obstacles wMcli may 
prevent a man from accepting Jesus' call to follow 
him. It is true these may at times obstruct his call 
to the ordinary Christian life. But St. Peter has 
asked the reward for such following, and Jesus is 
answering his question; and the answer relates to 
those who have followed Christ as the Twelve fol- 
lowed him. This kind of following required abso- 
lute renunciation of all things. 

Only two of the things abandoned have to do with 
wealth, namely houses and lands ; the others refer to 
near relatives, parents, children, brothers and sisters, 
and wives, in other words, all ties of family. To re- 
nounce these is much more difficult than to renounce 
wealth. And yet the call to follow Christ, the high- 
est Christian ideal, in a life of perfection, requires all 
this and more: for it is evident that these are only 
specimens of obstacles and they imply all others. 
The call to follow Christ involves the abandonment 
of all that in any way obstructs this call, whatever it 
may be. 

All this is from the point of view, that this prop- 
erty and these relatives obstruct the way of the dis- 
ciple. If they do not obstruct, but further disciple- 
ship, there is no reason for their abandonment. For 
it is not the abandonment of wealth and family as 
such, that is required as a counsel of perfection; it 
is the following of Christ absolutely and completely. 
We should ^x our minds on the positive require- 
ment, and not allow ourselves to be absorbed in the 



240 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

negative. This has been the fault in the historic 
application of this passage. More stress has been 
laid in fact in the usnal historical use of this passage, 
upon the renunciation of wealth and family than 
upon the following of Christ. 

This following of Christ, in accordance with-4h€ 
counsels of perfection, has its corresponding reward. 
^^He shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, 
houses, brethren, sisters, mothers, fathers, children, 
lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eter- 
nal life.^'i 

It is evident from this that Jesus teaches that the 
rewards of Christian perfection are both temporal 
and eternal. The hundredfold reward is probably 
conceived from the point of view of the transforma- 
tion of the family relation into that of the Christian 
family, in which all the elderly are fathers and 
mothers; the younger, brothers and sisters; the chil- 
dren of all the brethren, the children of Christ's 
prophet ; and their houses and lands his own, for in 
them he is an ever welcome guest. 

1 Matthew has "shall receive a hundred fold (Weiss et al. "mani- 
fold " ) and shall inherit eternal life." Luke has " shall receive 
manifold more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life." 
" Fathers " has probably fallen out from this list by mistake. In 
other respects it is the same as the list of what was forsaken. It 
is altogether probable that these terms were original. Luke general- 
ized " hundred fold " to " manifold." The rewards are a hundred 
fold the loss. Job received twice as much as he had before. Such 
a disciple of Christ is to receive a hundred fold. It is doubtful 
whether the reference to persecutions is original. The climax of the 
reward is h tC) alo)vi to) epzo/iEiXf) (cf. Mark and Luke, for which Mat- 
thew kXtjpovo/it^gel) , that is, in the Messianic age. 



I 



COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 241 

It is also probable that Zacchaeus had this call 
to follow Jesus. At least he acts as if he had. He 
says : ^ 'Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor ; 
and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any man, 
I restore fourfold."^ The reservation of half of 
the goods seems to have been for restitution and 
benefaction to the wronged. The other half is at 
once relinquished, in accordance with the teaching of 
Jesus to his immediate followers. 



1 Lk. xix. 8. 



16 



XVII. 

Counting the Cost. 

There are a large number of logia with reference/ 
to the special call to apostolic ministry. A consid- 
erable number of these are grouped by Matthew 
about the commission of the Twelve. These are 
given by Luke elsewhere. It is not easy to find the 
historical connection of many of them. Others are 
given in Luke in connection with the Perean minis- 
try. But both Matthew and Luke arrange them top- 
ically. We shall take them up in their historical 
order wherever possible ; wherever it is not possible, 
in the most suitable place. The earliest of these is 
probably the logion as to counting the cost.^ 

1. " Which of you, desiring to build a tower, 

Doth not first sit down and count the cost. 
Whether he have wherewith to complete it ? 
Lest haply when he hath laid a foundation, and is not able 

to finish. 
All that behold begin to mock him (saying) : 
This man began to build, and was not able to finish. 

2. Or what king, as he goeth to encounter another king in war. 
Will not sit down first and take counsel. 

Whether he is able with ten thousand, 



1 Lk. xiv. 28-33. This is preceded by two logia (Lk. xiv. 26 = Mt. 
X. 37, and Lk. xiv. 27 = Mt. x. 38 = Lk. xvi. 24 = Mk. viii. 34 = Lk. 
ix. 23 ) , which do not belong here, and which we will consider in 
their appropriate places. They were placed here by Luke for 
topical reasons. 

242 



COUNTING THE COST. 243 

To meet him that cometh against him with twenty thou- 
sand ? 
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, 
He sendeth an ambassage, and asketh conditions of peace." 

Jesus draws from this logion the inference: ^^So 
therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not 
all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple/' The 
one called to follow Christ in the counsels of perfec- 
tion, has to consider carefully and thoroughly what 
it will cost him. It means the renunciation of all 
that he hath, property, family, privileges. To be a 
disciple here is not simply to be a Christian, a mem- 
ber of the church, a member of the kingdom of God ; 
such discipleship does not require the renunciation 
of all that one has. It is not simply to be a clergy- 
man. No clergyman is required to renounce all that 
he has, when he is licensed or ordained; not even a 
missionary does this. It is a counsel of perfection; 
required of no one, but offered as an opportunity to 
some who have the special call to so great a privilege. 

It would be a revival of Christianity beyond con- 
ception, if such a ministry could be called in our 
times. But it can hardly be except by the distinct 
call of the Master himself. In the meanwhile Chris- 
tians should beware lest they interpret such passages 
as these in a fictitious sense, or with such an accom- 
modation to present times and circumstances as emp- 
ties them of their real meaning. 

Luke gives another logion in connection with the 
one just considered. This has been changed so much 



244 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

in the different versions that it is very difficult to find 
a common original.^ We may however venture upon 
the following: 

" Salt therefore is good : 
But if the salt hath lost its savour, 

Wherewith shall it be seasoned? -- ^ 

It is fit neither for the land, nor the dunghill. 
They cast it out to be trodden under foot. 
Have salt in yourselves." 

This is an exhortation addressed to the companions 
of Jesus to have salt in themselves, and so exert a 
seasoning influence by their ministry. Mark inter- 
prets the seasoning as a seasoning of peace-making. 
Matthew changes the exhortation to a statement of 
fact: *^Ye are the salt of the earth.'' 

Matthew attaches to the logion of the salt, two logia 
as to light, the one common to the evangelists, the 
other given by Matthew alone : but they are kindred 
in thought.^ The one common to the evangelists is a 
simple couplet, inserted by Matthew between the two 
halves of a quartette. It is inserted by Luke also as 
a preface to other material. Luke gives it its orig- 
inal form, which probably was : 

"No one, when he hath lighted a lamp, putteth it under the 

bushel ; 
But putteth it on the stand, that they which enter in may 

see light. 
For nothing is hid that shall not be made manifest, 
Nor anything secret that shall not come to light." 

I Lk. xiv. 34-35; cf. Mt. v. 13; Mk. ix. 50. 

2Mt. V. 14-lG; Mk. iv. 21-22; Lk. viii. 16-17; xi. 33; cf. also Mt. 
X. 26; Lk. xii. 2 



COUNTING TEE COST. 245 

This is a logion as to the searching power of light 
to make manifest all secret and hidden things. Mat- 
thew, putting it where he does, applies it to the faith- 
ful disciple, who is to be such a lamp on a lamp-stand". 
The other logion peculiar to Matthew is this : 

" Ye are the light of the world. 
A city set on a Hill cannot be hid. 
Even so let your light shine before men, 
That they may see your good works, and glorify your Father." 

This quartette is much stronger standing alone. 
The comparison is of a city set on a hill. So the good 
works of the disciple are to be in such public recog- 
nition that God will be glorified thereby. These good 
works are kind, loving deeds, not works of conformity 
to ceremonial or moral law.^ 

The logion attached in Luke^ was probably in the 
original as follows : 

1. " The lamp of thy body is thine eye. 

If thine eye be single. 

Thy whole body shall be full of light : 

But if thine eye be bad, 

Thy whole body shall be full of darkness. 

2. If the light that is in thee be darkness. 
How great is that darkness! 

If thy whole body be full of light, 

Not having any part darkness, 

As the lamp with its bright shining, it giveth thee light." 

The eye, when healthful, enlightens the whole body to 
see ; when diseased darkens the whole body. It is all 

1 KaTiO. epya = riinitD, deeds of goodness, 

2 Lk. xi. 34-36. It is condensed in Mt. vi. 22-23. 



246 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

important to have a good eye. Men should look to it 
that their moral eye is sound; then they will be full 
of light in all their actions. Then they will live and 
walk and act in the light. 

The logion as to cross bearing/ attached to the lo- 
gion as to counting the cost, really belongs in con- 
nection with Jesus ' rebuke of St. Peter when he first 
informed the disciples as to his death and resurrec- 
tion.2 

" If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, 
And take up his cross and follow me. 
For whosoever would save himself, shall lose himself; 
And whosoever shall lose himself, shall save himself. 
For what shall a man be profited. 
If he gain the whole world and forfeit himself? 
What shall a man give in exchange for himself ? '^ ' 

This is a call to the inner circle of the ministry. It 
is not only a call to follow Jesus, but it specifically 



iLk. xiv. 27. 2Mk. viii. 34; Mt. xvi. 24; Lk. ix. 23. 

*See Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 97 sq. The last line is probably 
a doublet of the previous one. These lines are arranged together in 
the passage given above, but the first two lines are used as a 
separate logion in the commission of the Twelve, Mt. x. 38 and in 
the connection already referred to, Lk. xiv. 27, both certainly out 
of place. The second couplet is also given in Lk. xvii. 33, cer- 
tainly out of place, and in Jn. xii. 25 in another form, on the last 
day in the temple in passion week where it is also out of place. It 
is also probable that the logion, Jn. xii. 26, is a weakened form of 
the call to cross-bearing. 

" If any man serve me, let him follow me; 
And where I am, there shall also my servant be: 
If any man serve me. 
Him will my Father honour." 

The serving here is the serving of the apostolic ministry. The 
reward of such service is honour from God. 



COUNTING TEE COST. 247 

involves two things: cross-bearing and self-denial. 
The renunciation is specifically a renunciation of self, 
the risking of life in the following of Christ. It is 
more intensive therefore than the renunciation of 
family and wealth, which was required in the pass- 
ages already considered.^ This is the negative side ; 
the positive side is the undertaking of the burden of 
the cross. The cross represents the malefactor's 
death. It stands for the gallows, or guillotine of 
modern times, the goal of shame and persecution. 
These requirements constitute the calling of the spe- 
cial disciple. They are not the qualifications of the 
universal call to discipleship. This is the call to a 
few out of the group of disciples to special service, 
which might involve not only self-renunciation but 
also martyrdom. The salvation of the self is gained 
through the sacrifice of the self in a special ser- 
vice. 

The Commission of the Twelve in Matthew^ con- 
tains a logion which is given in Luke^ just after the 
parable of the faithful Steward, a parable given 
again in the Eschatological discourse of Jesus.^ In 
Luke it is given in response to a question of Peter as 
to the parable of the servants watching for the re- 
turn of their lord from the marriage feast.^ The 
connection of this logion with these parables is ap- 
propriate. They all seem to be too early where Luke 
puts them, doubtless for topical reasons. The orig- 
inal was probably this: 

iSee pp. 234 sq. 2Mt. x. 34-37. »Lk. xii. 49-53. -« Mt. xxiv. 45-51. 
5 This is given in Mt. xxv. 1-13 as the parable of the Ten Virgins. 



248 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

" Think not that I came to cast peace on the earth; 
I came not to cast peace, but a sword. 
For there shall be five in one house divided. 
Three against two, and two against three, 
Father against son, and son against father, 

Mother against daughter, and daughter against mother, ^ 

Mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law 
against mother-in-law." 

To this Matthew adds : 

" He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy 
of me. 
He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy 
of me." 

This is given in Lnke^ in connection with the 
logia as to counting the cost and cross-bearing. 
There it is also in the form : * * If a man cometh unto 
me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and 
wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and 
his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. ' ' 

But the connection of Matthew is more natural; 
it gives a better setting, in times of conflict and per- 
secution, and it explains the harsher word of Luke, 
' * hate ' ' ; which seems abrupt and out of place, where 
it is. Luke evidently changes the logion into a prose 
sentence, adding, for the sake of his context, **and 
his own life, ' ' or rather ^ ^ self also. ' ' Matthew gives 
essentially the original. Luke adds wife and breth- 
ren and sisters to make the list of near relatives more 
complete. 

What shall we now say as to Jesus' attitude 
towards the parental law and the family? Jesus 

1 Lk. xiv. 26. 



COUNTING TEE COST. 249 

defends the parental law against the Pharisaic ex- 
emption of the temple offering.^ Jesns defends 
the marriage tie against the Pharisaic allow- 
ance of divorce.^ Jesns nrges that the Law is 
summed np in love and that hatred is murder.^ And 
yet he here teaches his disciples to break the parental 
law and the marriage law, and to transform love 
into hatred of even the nearest and dearest relatives. 
How shall we reconcile such apparent inconsisten- 
cies 1 We have already seen that all laws are of rel- 
ative ethical value, and that the lower law must 
always yield to the higher and the highest.^ If it be 
necessary to break a lower law in order to keep a 
higher law, the superior norm requires the violation. 
Such a violation is due to the obstructions that are 
inseparable from the conflict of good and evil in this 
world, where good and evil are mixed. The supreme 
ethical norm is the Goodness of God ; next in order is 
the following of Christ. To follow Christ is there- 
fore supreme over all other laws, and every partic- 
ular law and duty. If the parental law stand in the 
way, it must be broken through. If marriage stand 
in the way, it must be broken through. If love itself, 
parental, maternal, filial, marital, any or all of these 
forms of love, stand in the way of the work of the 
kingdom, it must be quenched in the fires of hatred 
for the sake of Christ and his kingdom. The dis- 
ciple is called upon to sacrifice himself, to renounce 
everything, to go to the martyr's cross. He can- 

^See pp. 136 sq. 2 See pp. 137 sq. 3 See pp. 146 sq. < 8ee pp. 126 sq. 



250 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

not permit a child, father, or mother, or any tie, to 
obstruct the following of this supreme call. In fact 
as things have been in the world, and are now in 
some cases, Jesus ' kingdom is a kingdom engaged in 
a holy war. There is a division in the same house- 
hold: *^ father against son, and son against father, 
mother against daughter, and daughter against 
mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, 
and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." 
'^ And a man's foes shall be of his own household.'' 

Attached to this discourse in Matthew are logia 
from the apocalypse of Jesus.^ These point to the 
persecution of the Twelve and other ministers of 
Christ. Here brother will deliver brother to death, 
and the father his child, and children shall rise up 
against parents and cause them to be put to death. 
All these passages have the same tenor; they apply 
not to all Christians, but to those whom the Messiah 
calls to the work of the Twelve and the Seventy, and 
their successors in this kind of ministry. They do 
not apply to all times, to all circumstances or to all 
ministries; but only to particular times, particular 
circumstances, and to persons specially called 
thereto. They are all in the realm of the counsels of 
perfection. No man or church has any authority to 
impose these counsels of perfection on the individ- 
ual. That is a personal matter between the disciple 
and his Lord. The Church may test those who claim 



iMt. X. 17-22; Mk. xiii. 9-13; Lk. xxi. 12-19; Mt. xxiv. 9, 13-14; 
Lk. xii. 11-12. 



COUNTING THE COST. 251 

to have sncli a call, and may order them in their 
special ministry; but it may not compel them to 
undertake it. It is, and it must be, within the lib- 
erty of Christian love. It is the most serious of all 
calls, which no one should undertake unless he has 
counted the cost, and is absolutely sure that the Mas- 
ter himself has summoned him to such a supreme 
ministry. 

Mark reports a dispute at Capernaum among the 
Twelve as to which of them should be greatest and 
gives a logion in that connection.^ Luke^ gives it in 
connection with a reproof of the Twelve at the last 
supper, where the same contest arose about which of 
them should be the greatest. This is most probable 
as it is germane to another logion connected with 
Jesus' symbolic act of washing the disciples' feet. 
The logion in its original form was probably : 

" The rulers of the nations lord it over them. 
And their great ones exercise authority over them. 
"Whosoever would be great among you, shall be your minister. 
Whosoever would be first among you, shall be your servant. 
The Son of Man came to minister. 
And to give himself a ransom for many." 



1 Mk, ix, 33-50. This is also given by Lk. ix. 48 in a parallel 
passage. In both Gospels the logion is condensed. Mt. xxiii. 11 
gives it after the logion as to " Rabbi " in connection with the Woes 
of the Pharisees, but certainly out of place. " He that is greatest 
among you shall be your servant." But Mk. x. 35-45 and its 
parallel Mt. xx. 20-28 gives it in connection with a larger logion 
with which it is in accord, attached to the discussion connected with 
the reproof of the ambition of James and John. 

2Lk. xxii. 24-27. 



252 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

It is probable tbat Jesus then washed bis dis- 
ciple 's feet according to the narrative of Jobn, giving 
an example of ministerial service. To tbis is at- 
tached a logion^ wbicb appears in Mattbew^ in tbe 
commission of tbe Twelve. But it is most a;^pro> 
priate where John gives it. The original was prob- 
ably as follows: 

" A disciple is not above his master. 
Nor a servant above his lord. 

It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master. 
And the servant that he be as his lord." 

We may now consider the antithetical conduct of 
Jesus' own disciples in this matter of fidelity and 
love.^ 

The first case presents an ideal of faithful love. 
It is that of the woman with the alabaster cruise 
of ointment. Mary poured it over the head of 
Jesus. This was an act of devotion, love and 
loyalty to Jesus that was unspeakably precious 
to him, as the time of his Passion drew near. 
It looked as if this were a wasteful act toward 
a man who was devoted to poverty and hardship. 
The ointment was spikenard, very precious, and 
worth in the estimation of an objector three hun- 
dred denaries.* It looked like a great waste. We 
are not surprised that it provoked some indigna- 
tion, and that some objected that this ointment ought 



1 Jn. xiii. 4-16. « Mt. x. 24-25; cf. Lk. vi. 40. 

8Mk. xiv. 3-9; Mt. xxvi. 6-13; Jn. xii. 1-8. 
* This was about $51 of American money. 



COUNTING TEE COST. 253 

to have been sold and the price given to the poor. 
Selling all and giving to the poor was a counsel of 
perfection for Jesus' closest followers. And yet 
Jesus represents that this act of the woman was a 
higher act still. As we have seen, the positive side 
of following Christ is the essential ethical act, to 
which renunciation of wealth and giving to the poor 
are ethically secondary. This anointing of Jesus is 
on that positive side which must ever prevail over 
the negative. This woman showed, by her apparent 
waste of this valuable ointment, her consecration and 
devotion as a follower of Jesus. It was an act of 
personal allegiance which really involved much more 
than giving to the poor. There seems to have been 
in this woman 's act a premonition of coming events ; 
and this testimony of her love to Jesus was of more 
ethical importance to the world at that time than her 
giving to the poor. The sacrifice was the same in 
either case ; but the sacrifice to Jesus was more direct 
in this act, than if she had done the other. Jesus 
said: ^*She hath wrought a good work on me''; or 
rather a kind, beautiful deed.^ 

This was a special situation that would not recur. 
Action could not be postponed. It was a more im- 
perative ethical act than that which could be done at 
any other time. This was a golden opportunity 
seized by the woman. The circumstances altered the 
case. The circumstances justified this extreme act 
of apparent waste. Love to Jesus was the supreme 

1 Mk. xiv. 6 ; Mt. xxvi. 10. 



254 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

ethical significance of this act, which became a world- 
wide and world-long example. It is a corrective to a 
one-sidedness that might easily arise from voluntary 
poverty. It shows that not always is poverty to be 
assumed for the sake of the poor; but that wealth 
may be renounced for other and higher purposes^! 
the kingdom of God. The object of the renunciation 
of wealth and the vow of poverty is not primarily, as 
we have seen,^ for the sake of the poor; it is for 
Christ's sake, that the disciple may be unencumbered 
by financial considerations, or commercial ties, from 
following Christ. The giving to the poor is a proper 
disposal of property in such a case; but is not the 
only one. It may be disposed of in other ways. It 
is best bestowed when it is used for the honour of 
Christ and the advancement of his Church in honour 
as well as in extent. Love to Christ, which is only 
a deeper name for following Christ, must be the 
supreme test ; and that will determine under each and 
every circumstance whether the sacrifice of wealth 
shall be for the poor, or for some other interest of 
Christ and his kingdom. Beautiful deeds are eth- 
ically important for the adoration of Christ and the 
adornment of his institutions. 

There are some in our day, who complain of the 
waste in Christian architecture. Christian music, and 
Christian ceremony, on the same plea that some of the 
apostles, probably led by Judas, made against this 
woman. But such gifts are not waste ; they are jus- 

1 See pp. 235 sq. 



COUNTING THE COST. 255 

tified by the importance of beautifying all that re- 
lates to the service of God. Love to Christ will 
guide in every case, and it is a far safer ethical norm 
than any other supposed claim of any particular in- 
terest whatsoever. 

This beautiful act of love on the part of the 
woman, stands in striking antithesis with the treach- 
ery of Judas, which immediately follows it in the 
Gospel narrative.^ The woman sacrificed her pre- 
cious ointment for love of Jesus. Judas sacrificed 
Jesus for his love of money. Matthew gives the 
fullest statement. Judas said to the chief priests: 
^ ' What are ye willing to give me, and I will deliver 
him unto you! And they weighed unto him thirty 
pieces of silver. ' ' Matthew makes the motive love 
of money. Luke ascribes it to the instigation of 
Satan. Mark mentions the fact without a motive. 
This was the primary narrative. The statements 
of the other evangelists are later opinions. The be- 
trayal takes place.^ The sign is the traitor's kiss. 
The sign of love is the cloak of treason, the symbol 
of the traitor's renunciation of love to Christ and 
of his following of Christ as one of the Twelve. 

Jesus took with him for companionship during his 
agony in the garden the three chiefs of the Twelve, 
Peter, James and John. They are warned— 

^' Watch and pray, lest ye enter Into temptation." 
" The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." ' 

i]\Ik. xiv. 10-11; Mt. xxvi. 14-16; Lk. xxii. 3-6. 

2Mk. xiv. 43-52; Mt. xxvi. 47-56; Lk. xxii. 47-53; Jn. xviii. 1-12. 

3Mk. xiv. 38; Mt. xxvi. 41; cf. Lk. xxii. 46. 



256 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

The temper, the disposition, of the Twelve was will- 
ing freely to follow Christ; their flesh was however 
weak. They were in peril of temptation ; they needed 
to have their weakness of flesh overcome. This 
could be accomplished only by watching, so as not to 
be taken by surprise, and by prayer for divine 
help. 

St. Peter, the primate of the Twelve, had been 
faithfully warned; but he was too self-reliant and 
boastful of his love and devotion to Christ. He had 
left all and followed Christ, and had become the chief 
of the Twelve ; and yet in the hour of trial he flinched, 
and temporarily withdrew from discipleship. He no 
longer followed Christ. He would not follow him in 
martyrdom, as he had vowed to do. Jesus saw the 
defect in his allegiance and predicted his fall.^ He 
denied Jesus thrice rather than deny himself. But 
he not only denied Jesus, thus speaking falsely; he 
denied him with an oath, violating the third com- 
mandment ; and took the name of God in vain to for- 
tify his lies.^ The fall was a terrible one for the 
chief apostle, an ethical decline from the heights of 
the chief imitator of Jesus to the depths of a coward, 
liar and false swearer. 

But Jesus' love to Peter was too great to let him 
go ; and when he repented with tears, he was restored, 
after the resurrection of Jesus, and received the su- 
preme call of love. 

iMk. xiv. 29-31; Mt. xxvi. 33-35; Lk. xxii. 33-34; Jn. xiii. 37-38. 
2Mk. xiv. 6G-72; Mt. xxvi. 69-75; Lk. xxii. 55-62; Jn. xviii. 15-18, 
25-27. 



COUNTING THE COST. 257 

Jesus said to Peter: *^ Simon, son of John, lovest 
thou me more than these! He saith unto him. Yea, 
Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto 
him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again a second 
time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith 
unto him. Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. 
He saith unto him. Tend my sheep. He saith unto 
him the third time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou 
me ? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the 
third time, Lovest thou me ? And he said unto him, 
Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I 
love thee. Jesus saith unto him. Feed my sheep. "^ 

Love to the Lord, the chief Shepherd, involves the 
loving care of the flock on the part of the chief under- 
shepherd. 

The final commission of the apostolic ministry may 
be constructed as follows^ from the various reports 
of the evangelists. 

1. " All authority hath been given to me. 

Go ye therefore into all the earth, 
And make disciples of all nations. 
Baptise them into my name. 
And teach them to keep my commands; 
And I am with you unto the End. 

2. But take heed to yourselves. 

They will deliver you up to the sanhedrim. 

And in synagogues will ye be beaten. 

And before governors will ye stand; 

And it will turn out unto you for a testimony: 

And unto the nations must the gospel be preached. 



1 Jn. xxi. 15-17. 

2 See The Apostolic Commission in the Volume entitled : Studies 
in Honor of B. L. Gildersleeve. 

17 



258 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

3. And when they lead you to deliver you up, 
Be not anxious how ye shall speak, 

For it will be given in that hour. 
That which ye shall speak; 
For it is not ye that speak, 
But it is the Spirit that speaketh. 

4. And brother will deliver up brother, --^_^^ 
And father will deliver up child. 

And children will rise up against parents. 

And they will put them to death ; 

And ye will be hated by all; 

But he that endureth to the End will be saved." 

Thus the apostolic ministry, having been trained 
in the companionship of Jesus, having heard his 
teaching as to the counsels of perfection, having seen 
them fully carried out in the life, death and resurrec- 
tion of their Master; went forth to a life of self- 
denial, and renunciation of all things, to the endur- 
ance of reproach, misrepresentation, persecution and 
martyrdom, like their Master, enriching the world by 
their blood, and calling forth multitudes of success- 
ors like themselves. 



XYIII. 

The Church and Society. 

It did not come within the scope of the Teaching 
of Jesus to give direct instruction with regard to 
social Ethics, except so far as these came into rela- 
tions with the Kingdom of God. The Family, So- 
ciety, the State, and the various occupations of men 
in this life, are considered only with reference to the 
Kingdom. Jesus passed through all these social ex- 
periences himself, and thereby consecrated them. 

I. The Family. 

He was born in the family of Joseph and Mary. 
He passed through the experiences of infancy and 
childhood. He was circumcised in accordance with 
the Law. At the legal age he began to participate 
in the Passover. He returned from that feast and 
was subject to his parents, and advanced in wisdom 
and stature, and in favour with God and men.^ Jesus 
maintained the binding force of the parental law, and 
of the marriage tie against the misinterpretations of 
the Pharisees. 2 He also blessed little children.^ 
But he did not in other respects discuss family rela- 
tions. He did not discuss the question of monogamy, 
or polygamy. He did not consider the prohibited 
degrees in marriage. He said nothing about concu- 
binage. He was not questioned, so far as we know, 

iLk. ii. 51-52. 2 See pp. 136 sq. 3 See Mt. xix. 13-14. 

259 



260 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

as to any of the many matters that are determined in 
the Law of the Old Testament, and were treated at 
length by the rabbis of the time, and by their success- 
ors, in the Mishna and Talmud, and which have agi- 
tated the Church in ancient as well as in modern 
times. With one question only does he come in con- 
tact, and that indirectly: namely, that of the inaf- 
riage of the wife of the deceased brother. 

^'Master, Moses wrote unto us: If a man's brother 
die, and leave a wife behind him, and leave no child, 
that his brother should take his wife, and raise up 
seed unto his brother. There were seven brethren: 
and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed ; and 
the second took her, and died, leaving no seed behind 
Mm; and the third likewise; and the seven left no 
seed. Last of all the woman also died. In the resur- 
rection whose wife shall she be of them? For the 
seven had her to wife. ' '^ 

This law recognized polygamy. Jesus does not 
comment on the law, but only on its consequences. 
He does not consider the consequences immediately 
after death, but the consequences in the resurrection ; 
and says that there will be no marriage relation at all 
at that time. In other words marriage is an institu- 
tion which belongs to this world ; but not to the eter- 
nal world. 

The law is found in the Deuteronomic code:^ ^^If 
brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and 



iMk. xii. 18-27; Mt. xxii. 23-33; Lk. xx. 27-39. 
2 Dt. XXV. 5-10. 



THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 261 

have no son, the wife of the dead shall not marry 
without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall 
go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and per- 
form the duty of an husband's brother unto her. 
And it shall be, that the first-born which she beareth 
shall succeed in the name of his brother which is 
dead, that his name be not blotted out of Israel. And 
if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then 
his brother's wife shall go up to the gate unto the 
elders, and say. My husband's brother refuseth to 
raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will 
not perform the duty of an husband's brother unto 
me. Then the elders of his city shall call him, and 
speak unto him : and if he stand, and say : I like not 
to take her ; then shall his brother 's wife come unto 
him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe 
from off his foot, and spit in his face ; and she shall 
answer and say: So shall it be done unto the man 
that doth not build up his brother's house. And his 
name shall be called in Israel. The house of him that 
hath his shoe loosed. ' ' 

The story of Judah and Tamar,^ turns about this 
custom; also the story of Ruth and Boaz,^ only the 
latter extends the custom to the nearest kinsman. 

We may say in general that Jesus leaves out of con- 
sideration the Ethics of the Family, as they are pre- 
sented in the Old Testament Law. He does not op- 
pose them, he does not endorse them, he does not 



1 Gn. 38. 2 Ruth 1 sq. 



262 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

change them. Three things he did teach which 
transform all these relations, and all these laws. 

(1) He made love the dominant force in the Family 
as in all other relations, and that not merely in the 
realm of Law and obligation; but still more in the 
liberty of Godlikeness and Christlikeness. Siich4ove 
changed the Jewish family relation into the Chris- 
tian family relation. But Jesus did not himself 
show how his doctrine of love transforms the family ; 
he left that to his Church in the evolution of her 
history. 

(2) Jesus taught that the family of God is a much 
higher and more sacred relation than the family con- 
stituted by merely natural relationship. God is 
Father of all fathers. Jesus is the Son of the Father. 
All who do the will of the Father are children of the 
Father, and in accordance with age, are fathers, and 
mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters in 
the family of God. The human family is trans- 
formed into the divine family. 

(3) The interests of the divine family are supreme 
over those of the human family. Y/hen Jesus sum- 
mons a man to his service, the human family must 
be forsaken, if it obstruct in any way the service of 
the family of God. 

II. Society/, 

Jesus was a member of society. He associated 
freely with men, and women, and children. He was 
not an ascetic like John the Baptist. He lived a 
social life. He partook of the hospitality of the 



TEE CHUBCH AND SOCIETY. 263 

Pharisees on the one hand, and of the Publicans on 
the other. He mingled freely with all classes of the 
people. So social was he in his ministry that he was 
compared unfavourably in this respect, not only with 
John the Baptist, but also with the Pharisees, who 
were exceedingly scrupulous in all their social rela- 
tions. 

Jesus on such an occasion pointed out the incon- 
sistency of the people in their varied attitude toward 
John the Baptist and himself. The original of 
the two versions of the logion was somewhat as 
follows '} 

1. " Whereunto shall I liken this generation ? 

It is like unto children sitting in the market places, 
Which call unto their fellows and say: 
'We piped unto you, and ye did not dance; 
We wailed unto you, and ye did not mourn.' 

2. For John came neither eating nor drinking. 
And they say : ' He hath a devil.' 

The Son of Man came eating and drinking. 

And they say : ' Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, 

A friend of publicans and sinners ! ' 

And wisdom is justified by her works." 

Jesus certainly enjoyed companionship and friend- 
ship. He gathered about him chosen companions. 
He did not journey alone. Even women became his 
disciples, journeying with him and ministering unto 
him. No sooner does he select the Twelve and send 
them off on a mission, than he prepares Seventy 
others, and sends them off on another mission; and 



iMt. xi. 16-19; Lk. vii. 31-35. 



264 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

he continues to add to the number of these special 
disciples until the very end.^ He attracts to himself 
not only these disciples, but also great multitudes; 
so that wherever he goes, crowds of people follow 
him about. He delights in teaching them, and in 
curing them of their diseases, and in comforting^ 
them in their troubles. 

A touching logion given only by Matthew^ illus- 
trates this. It probably belongs with the previous 
logion to the time of the return of the Seventy, on 
his last journey to Jerusalem. 

" Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, 
And I will give you rest. 
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; 
For I am meek and lowly in mind: 
And ye shall find rest unto yourselves. 
For my yoke is easy, 
And my burden is light." ' 

Jesus transforms Society not so much by direct 
teaching, as by the principles of Christian love 
which illuminate and govern Christian life. He re- 
gards all who are associated with him as constituting 
one great society in union with him and with the 
Father, and with the entire social organization. This 
is illustrated by the following logion. Matthew in- 
serted it in the midst of the long discourse against 



1 New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 32 sq. 

2 Mt. xi. 28-30. 

3 The measures of this logion are difficult to discern. We have no 
other version to help us. I hesitate to change its familiar form. 
It certainly has been modified from its original form. 



THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 265 

the Pharisees. It did not belong there, but it is 
difficult to assign it to an appropriate place.^ 

1. " Be not ye called rabbi : 

For one is your Rabbi, 
And all ye are brethren. 

2. Be not ye called father: 
For one is your Father, 
And all ye are sons. 

3. Be not ye called master : 
For one is your Master, 
And all ye are ministers." 

The disciples have one Father, God; one master 
and one teacher; Jesus the Messiah. They should 
beware lest they allow themselves, or any others, to 
take the place of God and His Messiah in their gov- 
ernment and instruction. They are themselves all 
alike brethren, sons of God, and ministers one of 
another. 

This is the great thought of the allegory of the 
Good Shepherd in John.^ 

Jesus said : ' ^ I am the good Shepherd ; and I know 
mine own, and mine own know me, even as the Father 
knoweth me, and I know the Father. . . . And other 
sheep I have, which are not of this fold : them also 
I must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and they 
shall become one flock, one shepherd. ' ' 

Jesus, as the Messiah, is the good, kind, loving 
shepherd. The flock is composed of the entire body 

1 Mt. xxiii. 8-10. See General Introduction to the Study of Holy 
Scripture, pp. 401 sq. 
2Jn. X. 14-16. 



^66 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

of his disciples : those already in the flock, and also 
those who subsequently will be united in the one 
flock. 

So also in the allegory of the Vine, Jesus said : * * I 
am the true vine, and my Father is the Husbandman 
. . . I am the vine, ye are the branches. . . . Even 
as the Father hath loved me , I also have loved you : 
abide ye in my love. . . . This is my commandment, 
that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. 
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay 
down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if 
ye do the things which I command you. No longer 
do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not 
what his lord doeth : but I have called you friends ; 
for all things that I heard from my Father I have 
made known unto you."^ 

Afterwards he spoke plainly without allegory to 
his disciples in all subsequent time. 

'* Neither for these only do I pray, but for them 
also that believe on me through their word ; that they 
may all be one ; even as Thou, Father, art in me, and 
I in Thee, that they also may be in us— that they may 
be one, even as we are one ; I am in them, and Thou 
in me, that they may be perfected into one. ' '^ 

Jesus thus conceives that all Christians are in 
mystic unity with him and with the Father in one 
divine Society. 

Human society is thus transformed by Jesus into 
a divine society. Love animates the Christian so- 

1 Jn. XV. 1-15. 2Jn. xvii. 20-23. 



THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 267 

ciety as it does the Christian family. Human society 
ever remains of elementary and inferior importance 
as compared with the divine society, in which it first 
attains its ideal and culmination. If ever the lower, 
by exaggerating its importance encroaches upon the 
sphere of the divine, it must be ruthlessly pushed 
aside ; for nothing human can be allowed to obstruct 
the progress of the Society of which Jesus Christ is 
the head. 

III. Property and Labour, 

Jesus consecrated labour by serving himself as a 
workman in wood, until he was thirty years of age. 
He laboured with his own hands, and thereby made 
manual labour sacred. His ministry was that of a 
great teacher and a good physician ; and so he made 
the labour of professional life still more sacred. He 
consecrated property, by his use of it. He taught 
that men have entrusted to them talents and trusts, 
to be used faithfully with wise and good usury, and 
to be accounted for accurately to the Master himself.^ 
He did not however teach directly the ethics of labour 
and property. He did not discuss the Old Testament 
laws on this subject. He did not unfold them into 
new laws. He consecrated and transformed them by 
the great principles of his kingdom. All property 
and labour are conceived by Jesus as used by 
Christians for the supreme Master, God. All Chris- 
tians are servants of God; they have their duty as 
servants, they have their privileges and liberties as 

iSee pp. 201 sq. 



268 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

servants. If they do all their duty, they will be 
blameless. If they neglect their obligations they will 
be punished. If they use their liberty in loving deeds, 
they will be rewarded. 

Jesus regards the service of Mammon, the selfish 
enjoyment of property and wealth, the labour Jor 
oneself, as a damning sin, which excludes from the 
kingdom of God. Dives, and the Rich Fool are pic- 
tures of real life in all ages, of the selfish, grasping, 
luxurious rich, who lay up treasure for themselves, 
but not toward God. It is impossible for such to 
enter the kingdom. A hopeless death and torment 
in the Abaddon of the middle state and the Gehenna 
of the final state, is their doom. 

Love should animate all Christian labour and all 
Christian property. Labour for God and His Christ 
is more imperative than labour for any other cause 
whatsoever. The most sacred use of property is for 
the upbuilding of the kingdom of God. All other 
labour, and all property must be forsaken when the 
Master calls for special service. Voluntary poverty 
is from this point of view the highest Christian call- 
ing, a counsel of Perfection. The Master lived such 
a life of voluntary poverty.^ He called his apostles 
to such a life, and he pronounced blessings upon all 
who live it. Property must not obstruct entrance 
into the kingdom of God, or the service of the king- 
dom of God. Whenever it is so used, it becomes anti- 
christian and idolatrous, and forfeits all rights. 

1 The Incarnation of the Lord, Sermon IV. 



TBE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 269 

Jesns himself did not hesitate to disregard the 
rights of property on three occasions. 

(1) The Gospels tell the story of evil spirits enter- 
ing into a herd of swine and destroying them. There 
were about two thousand of them. Jesus permitted 
this destruction of swine, and also the severe loss to 
their owners. It is not surprising that they desired 
him to depart from their borders.^ The story shows 
in Jesus, to modern views, a strange disregard of 
rights of property, and also of the life of animals. 
How can we regard this conduct of Jesus as ethically 
right ! We can only say that Jesus must have had a 
reason for such action, which the evangelists do not 
disclose. Only some higher ethical principle could 
justify his permission of the destruction of so much 
property and animal life. Jesus himself sacrificed 
property and life for the higher ends of his kingdom. 
He calls upon those who follow him in the highest 
ministry to do the same. Has he not, as the Mes- 
siah, the right over the property and lives of those 
who have been put under his dominion by God, even 
if they do not recognize him as lord and Master! 
We cannot deny the right to God to deprive men of 
their property, as well as to bestow it upon them at 
His discretion. Old Testament and New Testament 
know of no other rights of property than those de- 
rived from God, the sovereign owner of all. If Jesus 
is the Messiah, endowed with divine authority on 
earth, we cannot refuse him this divine right. 



iMk. V. 1-20; Mt. viii. 28-34; Lk. viii. 26-39. 



270 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

He was not bound to tell us his reasons for depriv- 
ing men of their property. We may be sure his 
reasons were most excellent. We know that no 
one was so gentle, so loving, so pitiful as he; and 
if on this occasion he had no pity on these animals 
or their owners, we may be sure that it was because 
of a subordination of lower rights to the higher 
rights of the kingdom of God. It is probable that 
these owners were unusually unworthy of his regard 
and were unusually deserving of deprivation of 
something they were misusing or abusing. 

(2) Jesus curses the barren fig tree.^ This fig tree 
had no figs to satisfy the hunger, and so Jesus cursed 
it. It withered away from the roots. The lesson 
that Jesus drew, was a lesson as to the power of faith 
to accomplish things apparently impossible. Did he 
intend any other lesson, and mean that this should 
be a symbolic action to set forth the ill desert of the 
pretentious Pharisees and the curse coming upon 
them! Did he mean it as a symbolic prophecy? 
This act of Jesus has ever been regarded as of ques- 
tionable morality. The tree had leaves prematurely ; 
it was not the season of fruit. This was about April ; 
the season of figs was not until June. The cursing 
of the tree killed it ; and not only destroyed the tree, 
but deprived the owner of the benefit of its fruit. In 
appearance this was not right. The act cannot be 
justified in itself and apart by itself. It can only be 
justified if we consider that a higher right demanded 

I Mk. xi. 12-14; Mt. xxi. 18-19. 



THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 271 

the sacrifice of this lower right. Jesus as the Mes- 
sianic king and judge had a higher right, a sovereign 
right. He had claimed his right to recognition as 
Messiah but a few hours before. He was now justified 
in putting forth his authority in an executive way in 
the condemnation and cursing of this ill-deserving 
tree and of depriving its owner of property which 
probably he had not properly cultivated. We may be 
sure that the situation in which Jesus was placed, 
not only justified this action but demanded it as 
ethically right and necessary for the accomplishment 
of his final ministry of salvation to his people. 

(3) The cleansing of the temple by Jesus shows a 
still more serious interference with private property. 
The traders in the temple were, some of them, money 
changers ; they changed money, so that the worship- 
pers might get the exact amounts and coins needed 
for the temple dues. Others sold doves needed in the 
temple for the sacrifices of the poor. John adds that 
others sold oxen and sheep. These were for the more 
expensive sacrifices of the rich. Jesus cast these 
traders out of the temple, using upon them a scourge 
of cords. He overthrew the tables of the money- 
changers and poured out their money.^ 

It is only fair to say that these traders were not in 
the temple itself, or in any of the courts where wor- 
ship was carried on, but in the outer courts where the 
people were accustomed to assemble ; and that these 
occupations were all for the convenience of the wor- 

iMk. xi. 15-18; Mt. xxi. 12-15; Lk. xix. 45-46; Jn. ii. 14-17, 



272 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

shippers. There was no law against this practice in 
the Old Testament. The traders acted nnder the 
authority of the civil and ecclesiastical laws of their 
times. They were within their legal rights, whether 
judged by civil or ecclesiastical laws. Jesus was 
therefore violently interfering with the civil and ec- 
clesiastical rights and property of these men. Why 
did he doit! 

In his explanatory words he appeals to a higher 
law, a law evolved from a prophecy of the second 
Isaiah, that the temple was to be a house of prayer 
for all nations;^ and this he extends to the outer 
courts of the temple, courts that were not in the plans 
of any of the temples of Biblical history. He evi- 
dently considered that even these courts should be 
hallowed, and not desecrated by wicked deeds. 

Jesus also said that these traders had made the 
temple a den of robbers. There can be no doubt that 
they habitually robbed the people, taking advantage 
of their necessities in the matter of dues to the temple 
and sacrifices, especially when large crowds assembled 
at the feasts. It is probable that they had robbed 
the disciples of Jesus on this occasion by defrauding 
them in the purchase of the paschal lamb which they 
must have procured just about this time.^ A gross 
act of this kind may have brought to a climax a long 
series of robberies. Jesus however does not deal 
with these robbers, as he deals with sinners else- 

1 Is. Ivi. 7. 

2 J^ew Jjight on the Life of Jesus, p, 103. 



THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 273 

where, calling them to repentance and praying for 
them. In holy passion he expels the whole traffic 
from the temple. That which Jesus did, the rulers 
ought to have done long before. Jesus takes the law 
into his own hands, as the Messiah, and executes it 
himself. He deals with these traders as sinners, ripe 
for the judgment he executes upon them. He deals 
with them as he deals with the Pharisees in his dis- 
courses on the subsequent days. We see him thus 
once in his earthly life, acting as the judge and the 
executor of judgment. He does not give us any 
other ground on which his act can be ethically de- 
fended, than the fact that he did it. If he was not 
the Messiah, which he now definitely and publicly 
claimed to be in word and deed, he had no right to 
supersede the rulers of his people. If he was indeed 
what he claimed to be, and what he was to attest him- 
self as being by his death on the cross, and resurrec- 
tion from the dead, then he had the authority to exe- 
cute judgment upon these traders and upon all others 
as he deemed best. 

We thus have three deeds of Jesus, in which he 
acts above and in violation of rights of property, all 
of them acts of violence. He is responsible for the 
destruction of the swine in the sea of Tiberias. He 
is responsible for the killing of the fig tree. He is 
responsible for the expulsion of the traders from the 
courts of the temple. 

In all these cases he violently interfered with the 
rights of property of other men, and so far did them 

18 



274 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS, 

a wrong. If he were nothing more than an individ- 
ual man, we could not defend him. Unless he had 
authority higher than the civil and ecclesiastical au- 
thorities of the time, he did what he had no right to 
do. He executed judgment, and unless he had au- 
thority to do so, he did not act rightly. He had au- 
thority as the Messiah to execute judgment and to 
exercise mercy also. His judgments are few; his 
mercy is abundant. His Messianic character justi- 
fies his Messianic acts of judgment. He makes such 
use of this property as the interests of the Kingdom 
demand. Those who were in these cases deprived of 
their property had made such a misuse of it, that 
they had forfeited all right to it. If Jesus wished 
simply to set forth in a graphic way this lesson for 
all time, we may glorify him for it. No one has any 
such absolute right in property that he can use it in 
disregard of the rights of others and the demands of 
God's Kingdom. Any such misuse incurs the pen- 
alty of forfeiture. 

IV. The State, 

Jesus had little to say with reference to the civil 
government of his time. There were several authori- 
ties in Palestine in the time of Jesus, and it was not 
always easy to determine which to obey. The Jews 
in the time of Jesus, were on the brink of rebellion 
against the Eoman rule, and would gladly have fol- 
lowed Jesus in a revolution. But Jesus carefully 
refrained from such a course. He rebuked Satan in 
the great temptation, when he offered him the king- 



THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 275 

dom and the glory of the world.^ He refused the 
Galileans, who would have rallied about him as king.^ 
He replied to the temptation of the Herodians by the 
logion : 

" Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's ; 
Eender unto God the things that are God's." ^ 

Thus Jesus recognized the two authorities as dis- 
tinct in their spheres. He taught in the sphere of 
the authority of God. He avoided teaching in the 
sphere of the authority of the State. He claimed 
indeed to be the Messiah, the lawful king of the 
Jews, under oath before the Jewish sanhedrim. But 
they rejected him and gave him over to be crucified 
as a pretender. He said to Pilate: 

" My kingdom is not of this world." * 

Jesus came as the Messiah to set up the kingdom 
of God in the world. This, however, was not a king- 
dom of civil authority, but of religious authority. 
He taught no civil laws. He did not endorse those 
of his time, he did not oppose them. But here, as in 
every other social sphere, he gave principles which 
transformed the Jewish and the Roman states into 
Christian states. The principle of Christ-like love 
was destined to work transformation in all spheres, 
working gradually as leaven, as salt, and as light. 
The kingdoms of this world were all to become the 
kingdom of God. Jesus kept his kingdom aloof 



iMt. iv. 8-10; Lk. iv. 5-8. 2 Jn. vi. 15. 

3Mk. xii. 14; Mt. xxii. 21; Lk. xx. 25. * Jn. xviii. 36. 



276 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

from the state. His apostles endeavored to do the 
same. They urged submission to the civil authori- 
ties except when these required the Christian to deny 
his supreme Lord. When the interests of the two 
kingdoms clashed, then Christ, the king of the king- 
dom of God, had to be followed rather than_JJie 
Roman emperor. It was just this principle that 
caused the greater part of the persecutions of early 
Christianity; until eventually Christianity became 
supreme. 

Jesus did not himself establish his kingdom in the 
world, prior to his death, or indeed during the forty 
days of his resurrection life. A few days after his 
enthronement, at the right hand of the Father, he 
gave as his coronation gift the divine Spirit in the- 
ophany, on the day of Pentecost, and established his 
kingdom through the ministry of his apostles. Jesus, 
however, in his teaching set forth the principles of 
his kingdom. The kingdom of grace, as planted and 
growing in this world is the Church of the Pauline 
Epistles, and of Christian history. The kingdom of 
glory is the kingdom of the Second Advent, after 
the course of this age of the world has been com- 
pleted.^ The kingdom of God in the world is essen- 
tially a kingdom of love. The Church is instituted 
for ministerial service in teaching divine truth and 
in living the holy life of love. 

Jesus gave a logion to St. Peter, when as the 

1 See pp. 62 sq. 



TEE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 277 

spokesman of the Twelve lie definitely recognized 
Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus then said to him : 

"Blessed art thou, Simon, bar Jonah; 
For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 
But my Father which is in heaven; 
And I say unto thee: Thou art Peter, 
And upon this rock will I build my (house,) 
And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 
I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom (of God) : 
And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, 
Shall be bound in heaven: 
And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth. 
Shall be loosed in heaven." ^ 

St. Peter was thus made by the appointment of 
Jesus the rock on which the Church was built as a 
spiritual house, or temple ; and at the same time the 
porter of the kingdom, whose privilege it is to open 
and shut its gates. The Church is here conceived as 
a building, a house, constituted of living stones, all 
built upon Peter, the first of these stones, or the pri- 
mary rock foundation. It is also conceived as a city 
of God, into which men enter by the gates. These 
conceptions are familiar in the Old Testament, as 
well as in the New Testament. The significant thing 
here is the primacy of St. Peter. He is chief of the 
Twelve, who elsewhere in the New Testament are 
conceived as the twelve foundations of the temple 
and city of God.^ He is the chi^f porter, as else- 

iMt. xvi. 17-19. It is probable that "house" was in the original 
logion, and that " church " has been substituted for it in accordance 
with Pauline usage. 

2 Eph. ii. 20 ; Rev. xxi. 14. 



278 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS. 

where the Twelve have the authority of the keys,^ 
and the Church has it, as an assembly of Chris- 
tians.^ Jesus gave them authority to admit into his 
kingdom or to exclude therefrom. 

There can be no doubt that this logion of Jesus 
establishes the authority of discipline in the Chur^jh, 
as well as that of teaching. Indeed the Twelve and 
probably also the Seventy were commissioned to 
carry on the work of Jesus in the world, by organiz- 
ing his Kingdom or Church. They were commis- 
sioned to teach and to baptize, and to organize for the 
celebration of the holy Eucharist, and for the govern- 
ment and discipline of the Christian body. Here 
also Jesus gave principles rather than laws. He left 
to his apostles, whom he commissioned, the authority 
to organize his Church in accordance with his prin- 
ciple of holy love. So far as the Church in its 
history has established the ministry of love, it has 
been true to the Master ; so far as it has failed in the 
ministry of love, it has been unfaithful to him. So 
far as its government, discipline, teaching, institu- 
tions, and life have been guided by the divine Spirit, 
and animated by Christian love, the growth of the 
Church has been normal and rich. 

Jesus overcame the temptation of the devil when 
urged to take possession of the kingdoms of the 
world. The Church, like St. Peter himself, has not 
been able at all times to resist temptation, and so has 
too often lorded it over the world, in the spirit of 
Caesar, rather than of Christ. The Church as de- 



1 Jn. XX. 21-23. 2 Mt. xviii. 15-20. 



THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 279 

signed by the Master has a ministry of love. It con- 
quers by love, not by armies. It governs by love, not 
by force. Its institutions are institutions not for the 
subjugation of the world to ecclesiastical authority, 
but for self-sacrificing Christlike love in a holy min- 
istry for the salvation of the world. 



INDEX OP SUBJECTS. 



Ahaddon, 93 

Absolution, 72, 81 
Adultery, 1^9 sq., 151 sq. 
Advent, Second, 66, 276 
Alms, 163 sq., 214. 
Anger f 147 sq. 
Anointing of Jesus, 252 
Anxiety, 209 
Apocalyptic, 30 
Apoleia, 93 



Baptism, Christian, 63, 

of Jesus, 35, 159 
Baptismal Formula, 58 
Beatitudes, 82 seq. 
Beautiful Deeds, 253 
Blessing little children, 



68 



79 



Caesar's Rights, 275 sq. 
Casuistry, 127 sq. 
Celibacy, 228 
Church, 259 sq. 

discipline of, 278 
Cleansing of Temple, 271 
Clement of Alexandria, 84 
Commission, apostolic, 58, 69, 

final, 255 sq. 

of Seventy, 54, 228 sq. 

of Twelve, 224 
Counsels of Perfection, 224 sq, 
Counting the Cost, 242 sq. 
Cross hearing, 246 sq. 

DeviZ, 61 
Divorce, 137 sq. 

^n(Z o/ Dispensation, 222 



Essenes, 168 
Eunuchs, 228 
Eusehius, 2 

Fat^Ti, 68 sq. 

Family, 259 sq. 

Fasting, 163 sq. 

Fi^r ^ree, barren, 270. 

Following Christ, 207 sq. 

i^'ooZ, 147 

Forgiveness, 68 sq., 81, 118 

and Love, 71 
Fringes, 183 

Gehenna, 92, 206 

Golden Rule, 100 

CootZ, Biblical meaning, 236 sq. 

Coo(Z Shepherd, 75, 119, 208, 265 

Gospel, of Infancy, 4 sq. 

of John, 8 sq. 

of Luke, 5 sq. 

of Mark, 1 sq. 

of Matthew, 2 sq. 
Grenfell d Hunt, 1, 22 

Haggada, 14 sq. 
81 Halacha, 25 sq., 138 
Herodians, 168 
iJiZZeZ, 100 
Humility, 213 
Hypocrisy, 177, 188 

Intercessory Prayer of Jesus, 81 

Jesus, one Master, 265 sq. 
Judgment, 189 sq. 

final, 94, 200, 203 sq. 

of Messiah, 274 sq. 

281 



282 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



Justification, 78, 165 sq. 



Our Father, 39, 73, 118 



Kind deeds, 253 
Kindness, 175 sq. 
Kingdom, of glory, 276. 

of God, 59 sq. 

of grace, 62, 276 

of heaven, 59 

Labour, 267 sq. 

Lamp, simile of Christian, 244 

Law, 143 sq., 182 

Lex Talionis, 97 sq. 

Life, 73 

Logia of St. Matthew, 2 sq., 7 sq. 

Lord's Prayer, 39, 73, 118 

Love, and Faith, 71 

and Forgiveness, 71 

as Law, 122 sq. 

Christlike, 114 sq., 205, 223 

Godlike, 97 sq. 

of Jesus for Peter, 256 

liberty of, 86, 157, 251 

of enemies, 106 sq. 

of Mary, 252 

of neighbors, 129, 157 

of the Father, 107 sq. 

supererogatory, 126 

to God, 156 

Mammon, 96, 217, 268 
Marriage, 259 sq. 
Martha, 75 

and Mary, 54 
Merit, 213 sq., 218 sq. 
Mishna, 14 
Mote and Beam, 110 
Murder, 146 sq. 

'Nicodemus, 63, 69 

Oaths, 152 sq. 



Parable, 15 sq. 

Chief Seats at Feasts, 19 
Dives and Lazarus, 19, 191, 

268 
Drag net, 16, 66, 200 
Feast for the Poor, 9, 203/ 
Fig tree, 18 -^ — ^ 

Friend at Midnight, 19 
Good Samaritan, 19, 117 
Hidden Treasure, 16, 67 
Householder, 16 
King's Sons, 63 
Labourers in Vineyard, 17, 

66, 120 
Leaven, 16 

Lost Coin, 19, 74, 116, 189 
Lost Sheep, 17, 74, 116, 189 
Love and Forgiveness, 70 
Marriage Feast, 17, 200 
Mustard Seed, 16, 65 
Pearl of Price, 16, 67 
Pharisee and Publican, 19, 

77, 165, 181 
Pounds, 66, 203, 220 
Prodigal Son, 19, 74, 116, 

190 
Rich Fool, 19, 190, 268 sq. 
Seed growing Secretly, 61, 65 
Sower, 16, 52, 60 
Talents, 18, 66, 203, 221 
Tares, 16, 61, 65, 200 
Two Debtors, 19 
Two Servants, 18, 201 
Two Sons, 17, 62, 79 
Unjust Judge, 19 
Unmerciful Servant, 17, 120 
Unprofitable Servant, 19,218 
Unwatchful Householder, 18 
Virgins, 18, 66, 222 
Wicked Husbandmen, 17 



I 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



283 



Parable, Wise Servant, 19, 215 
Parental Law, 136 sq., 227, 248 

sq. 
Perfection, Christian, 234, 240 

in Love, 109 
Peter, Confession of, 76, 277 sq. 

Fall of, 256 

Primacy of, 277 sq. 
Pharisaism, 167 sq. 
Philip, 80 
Phylacteries, 183 
Poverty, Voluntary, 84, 235, 268 
Prayer, 162 sq. 
Property, 267 sq. 

rights of, 268 sq., 273 
Prophecy of Jesus, 29 sq. 
Purification, 134 sq. 

Raca, 147 

Renunciation, of all things, 239 

of family, 226 sq. 

of self, 243 sq. 

of wealth, 235, 253 
Repentance, 68 sq. 
Resch, 1 

Revival of Christianity, 243 
Reward, 206 sq., 240 
Riches, use and abuse of, 238 sq. 
Righteousness, 158 sq. 

of Love, 166 

Sallath, 127 sq. 

Sacrifices, 77 

Sadducees, 168 

Salt, simile of Christians, 244 

Service, 207 sq. 

Seventy Apostles, 49 



Shemah, 155, 183 
Sin, 189 sq. 

excuse for, 196 

the unpardonable, 193 sq. 
Society, 259 sq., 262 sq. 
Son of Man, 37, 44, 193, 251 
Sources of Teaching of Jesus, 

1 sq. 
Spirit of God, 41, 63, 65, 193 sq. 
State, 274 sq. 
Stumbling, 92 
Supererogation, 220 

Temptation of Jesus, 35 

Ten Commands, 145 sq., 153 sq., 

198 sq., 232 sq. 
Thomas, 80 
Tithes, 174 sq. 
Tradition, 172 

Treasures, in heaven, 212 sq. 
Twelve Apostles, 48, 224 
Two Ways, 82 sq. 

Uncleanness, sources of, 197 

Vine and Branches. 266 
Vows, 153 sq., 185 sq. 

Wealth, use of, 268 sq. 
Will of the Father, 34 sq., 202 
Wisdom, Hebrew, 3, 20 
Woes, 75, 82 sq., 91, 171 sq. 
Word of Jesus, 47 

YoTce of Jesus, 264 

Zacchaeus, 79, 241 



INDEX OF TEXTS. 



Genesis 

i.27 

ii. 1-3 

ii.24 

iv.7 

xxxviii 

Exodus 

xii. 2-10 

xiii. 9, 11-16 

XX. 8-11 

XX. 12 

XX. 13 

XX. 14 

xxi 

xxi. 12-14 

xxi. 17 

xxi. 23-25 

xxii. 26-27 

Leviticus 

X. 10 

xix. 12 

xix. 18 105, 

xix. 34 

XX. 9 

xxiv. 9 

xxiv. 17 

xxiv. 20 

xxvii 

xxvii. 30-33 

Numbers 

XV. 38-39 

xviii. 21-32 

XX 

XXX. 2 153, 

XXXV. 20-21, 22 



Deuteronomy 

139 V. 12-15 129 

132 V. 16 136 

139 V. 17 146 

194 V. 18 151 

261 vi. 4 155 

vi.4-9 183 

183 vi.5 156 

183 vi.8 183 

129 vi. 13, 16 37 

136 viii. 3 36 

146 xi. 18-21 183 

151 xii. 17-18 174 

101 xiv. 22-29 174 

146 xix. 4, 11 146 

136 xix. 21 98 

98 XX. 16-18 105 

99 xxiii. 3-6 105 

xxiii. 21-23 153 

196 xxiv. 1-2 138 

153 xxiv. 13 99 

156 xxiv. 14 233 

105 xxv. 5-10 260 sq. 

136 xxv. 17-19 105 

129 Judges 

146 ix. 4 147 

98 xi. 3 147 

186 Ruth 

174 i. sq 261 

I. Samuel 

184 xxi. 4-6 129 

174 Nehemiah 

37 iv. 5 106 

186 Job 

140 xxxi. 1 152 

284 



INDEX OF TEXTS. 



285 



Psalms 

i 82 

ix. 13 194 

xiv. 1 147 

xix. 1 194 

xxiv. 4 88 

lxv.4 77 

Ixviii. 38 77 

Ixxiii. 1 88 

Ixxix. 9 77 

cxxxvii. 8-9 106 

Proverhs 

iii.3-4 175 

X. 12 Ill 

Isaiah 

xxix. 13 135 

Ivi. 7 272 

Ixi. 1 sq 25 

Daniel 

xii. 2-3 200 

Hosea 

vi. 6 115, 175 

Micah 

vi. 8 174 

ToUt 

iv. 15 100 

Matthew 

iii. 15 158 

iii. 17 35 

iv. 1-11 35 

iv. 4 44 

iv. 8-10 275 

iv. 17 29, 59 

iv. 18-22 224 

iv. 25 208 

V. 3 67 

V. 3-12 83 sq. 

V. 6 159 

V. 10 160 

V. 13-16.. 97 sq., 244 sq. 

V. 17 101 

V. 17-18 144 



Matthew 

V. 20 161 

V. 21 sq 145 

V. 21-48 15 

V. 22 147 

V. 23-24 151 

V. 25-26, 27-28 ... . 151 

V. 28 140 

V. 29-30. .91,92,152 sq. 

V. 31-32 137,152 sq. 

V.32 140 

V. 33-37 152 sq. 

V. 34 187 

V. 38 97 

V.43 104 

V. 44-48 106 

vi. 1-6 162 

vi. 7-15 163 

vi.9-13 39 

vi.7-15 163 

vi. 10 59 

vi. 12, 14-15 118 

vi. 16-18 162 

vi. 19-21... 164, 272 sq. 

vi. 19-34 164 

vi. 22-23 164, 245 

vi. 24 95, 216 

vi. 25-34... 164, 209 sq. 

vi. 33 67, 160 

vii. 1-5 164 

vii. 6 112, 180 

vii. 7-11 40, 112 

vii. 12 100, 112, 157 

vii. 13-14 92, 112 

vii. 15, 16-20 89 

vii. 21 38, 50 

vii. 21-23 92 

vii. 22-23 51, 93, 205 

vii. 24-27 51 

vii. 29 50 

viii. 1, 10 208 

viii. 11-12 94 



286 



INDEX OF TEXTS. 



Matthew 

viii. 19-22 226 

viii. 28-34 269 

ix. 2 69 

ix. 2-8 26 

ix. 7 59 

ix.9-13 114, 224 

ix. 12-13 26 

ix. 13 69 

ix. 15 26 

ix. 19, 27 208 

ix. 36-38 115 

X 225 sq. 

X. 2 116 

x.9-10 85 

X. 14 53 

X. 17-22 250 

X.22 57, 218 

X. 24 24, 57, 110 

X. 24-25 252 

X. 26 244 

X. 34-37 247 

X. 37 242 

X.38 242, 246 

X.39 23 

X. 40 24^ 54 

xi. 2-19 30 

xi. 12-13 144, 216 

xi. 16-19 263 

xi. 18 216 

xi. 20-24 75 

xi. 28-30 264 

xi. 32 216 

xii. 1-8 128 

xii. 3-8 26 

xii. 7 115 

xii. 9-14 130 

xii. 11-12 26 

xii. 15 205 

xii. 22-29 27 

xii. 31-32 178, 193 

xii. 33 89 



Matthew 

xii. 34-35 89, 90 

xii. 36-37 199 

xii. 38-42 178 

xii. 40-42 179 

xii. 43-45 195 

xii. 46-50 38 

xiii. 1-53 16, 60 

xiii. 9 .^^53 

xiii. 11-13 17 

xiii. 12 221 

xiii. 16-17 53 

xiii. 21-32 33, 65 

xiii. 33 65 

xiii. 41-43 200 

xiii. 43 53 

xiii. 44, 45-46 67 

xiii. 47-50 66 

xiii. 49-50 200 

xiii. 54 25 

xiii. 54-58 75 

xiii. 57 22 

xiv. 13 208 

XV. 1-20 135, 171 

XV. 3-6 172 

XV. 3-20 27 

XV. 5-6 136 

XV. 10-20 196 

XV. 11 197 

XV. 14 110 

xvi. 1-4 178 

xvi. 2-3 179 

xvi. 5-12 27 

xvi. 6 177 

xvi. 13-16 76 

xvi. 17-19 65, 277 

xvi. 21-28 30 

xvi. 24 246 

xvi. 25 23 

xvi. 28 64 

xvii. 5 45 

xvii. 22-23 30 



INDEX OF TEXTS. 



287 



Matthew 

xviii. 1-5 27, 30, 79 

xviii. 6-7 91 

xviii. 8-9.. 91, 92, 97, 152 

xviii. 12-14 17 

xviii. 15 119 

xviii. 15-20 278 

xviii. 21-22 119 

xviii. 22-35 17, 120 

xix. 1-12 152 

xix. 2 208 

xix. 3-12 27, 137 

xix. 9 97, 140, 216 

xix. 11-12 228 

xix. 13-15 30, 79 

xix. 16-22... 84, 232, 259 

xix. 16-30.. 27 

xix. 21 109 

xix. 23-27 67, 237 

xix. 28 67 

XX. 1-15 66 

XX. 1-16 17, 120 

XX. 16 95 

XX. 20-28 27,30,251 

XX. 29 208 

XX. 34 207 

xxi. 9 208 

xxi. 12-15 271 

xxi. 12-17 27, 31 

xxi. 18-19 30, 270 

xxi. 23-27 27 

xxi. 28-32 17, 62, 80 

xxi. 33-41 17 

xxi. 33-46 63 

xxii. 1-10 62 

xxii. 1-14 17, 200 

xxii. 13-14 201 

xxii. 15-22 27 

xxii. 21 26, 275 

xxii. 23-33 28, 260 

xxii. 34-40. ..28, 117, 155 
xxii. 40 157 



Matthew 

xxii. 41-46 28 

xxiii . 171 

xxiii. 2-3.i 182 

xxiii. 4 176, 183 

xxiii. 6 184 

xxiii. 6-7 175 

xxiii. 8-10 265 sq. 

xxiii. 8-12 184 

xxiii. 11 251 

xxiii. 12 77, 213 

xxiii. 13 62, 176 

xxiii. 15, 16-22 185 

xxiii. 23-24, 25-26 173 

xxiii. 27-28 175 

xxiii. 29-32 187 

xxiii. 33 188 

xxiii. 34-36, 37-39 177 

xxiv 30 

xxiv. 9 57, 250 

xxiv. 13 222 

xxiv. 13-14. 250 

xxiv. 32-33 18 

xxiv. 34 64 

xxiv. 42 222 

xxiv. 42-51 66 

xxiv. 43-44 18 

xxiv. 45-51 

18,201,222,247 sq. 

XXV. 1-11 18 

XXV. 1-13 66, 247 

XXV. 14 sq 66 

XXV. 14-30 18, 221 

XXV. 29 221 

XXV. 31-46 66, 203 sq. 

xxvi. 6-13 27, 252 

xxvi. 10 253 

xxvi. 14-16 255 

xxvi. 21-25, 31-35 30 

xxvi. 33-35 256 

xxvi. 39 46 

xxvi. 41, 47-56 255 



288 



INDEX OF TEXT8. 



Matthew 

xxvi. 58 207 

xxvi. 63-66 154 

xxvi. 69-75 256 

xxvii. 55 208 

xxviii. 18-20 58 

xxviii. 19-20 70 

Mark 

i. 11, 12-13 35 

i. 14-15 29 

i. 15 59 

i. 16-20 47, 224 

i. 21-28 15 

i. 21-30 47 

ii. 1-12 26 

ii. 5 69 

ii. 13-17... 47, 114, 224 

ii. 15 208 

ii. 17 26, 69 

ii. 19-20 26 

ii. 23-28 128 

ii. 25-28 26 

iii. 1-6 130 

iii. 4 26 

iii. 5 148 

iii. 7 208 

iii. 13-19 48 

iii. 22-27 27 

iii. 28-29 178, 193 

iii. 31-35 38 

iv. 1-20 16, 52 

iv. 1-34 60 

iv. 9 53 

iv. 11-22 17 

iv. 21 97 

iv. 21-22 244 

iv. 24 109, 110, 209 

iv. 25 221 

iv. 26-29 16 

iv. 30-32 16, 65 

v. 1-20 269 

v. 24 208 



Mark 



V. 37 207 

vi. 1-6 75 

vi. 2 25 

vi. 4 22 

vi. 7-11 225 sq. 

vi. 11 53 

vi. 12 59 

vi. 12-15 T^ — n 

vii. 1-23 135, 171 

vii. 6-9 135 

vii. 6-23 27 

vii. 8-9 172 

vii. 11-12 136 

vii. 14-25 196 

vii. 15 197 

viii. 11-12 178 

viii. 12 179 

viii. 14-21 27 

viii. 15 177 

viii. 27-30 76 

viii. 31-38 30 

viii. 34 242, 246 

viii. 35 23 

ix. 1 30, 64 

ix. 7 45 

ix. 30-32 30 

ix. 33-37 27, 30, 79 

ix. 33-50 251 

ix. 38-40 27 

ix. 42 91 

ix. 43-48.. 9 1,92, 97, 152 

ix. 50 97, 244 

x. 1-12.... 27, 137, 152 

X. 11 97, 216 

X. 11-12 140 

X. 13-16 30, 78 

X. 16-22 84 

X. 17-22 232 

X. 17-31 27 

X. 23 84 

X. 23-27 67 



INDEX OF TEXTS. 



289 



Mark Mark 

X. 23-31 237 

X. 32 204 

X.34 95 

X. 35-45 27, 30, 251 

X. 52 207 Luke 

xi. 9 208 

xi. 12-14... ... 30, 270 

xi. 15-19.... 27, 31, 271 

xi.25 118 

xi. 27-33 27 

xii. 1-9 17 

xii. 1-12 63 

xii. 13-17 27 

xii. 14 275 

xii. 18-27 28, 260 

xii. 28-34... 28, 117, 155 

xii. 31 156, 233 

xii. 34 157 

xii. 35-37 28 

xii. 38-40 175, 184 

xii. 41-44 28 

xiii 30 

xiii. 9-13 250 

xiii. 13 57, 222 

xiii. 28-29 18 

xiii. 30 64 

xiii. 33 222 

xiii. 34-37 66, 222 

xiv. 3-9 27, 252 

xiv. 6 253 

xiv. 10-11 255 

xiv. 13 207 

xiv. 18-21 30 

xiv. 25 65 

xiv. 27-31 30 

xiv. 29-31 256 

xiv. 36 46 

xiv. 38 255 

xiv. 43-52 255 

xiv. 51,54 207 

xiv. 61-64 154 



xiv. 66-72 256 

XV. 41 208 

xvi. 15-16 58 

xvi. 15-17 70 

i. 1-4 5 

ii. 40-52 34 

ii. 51-52 259 

iii. 22 35 

iv. 1-13 35 

iv. 5-8 275 

iv. 14-15 29 

iv. 16-30 25, 75 

iv. 23-24 22, 25 

V. 1-11 224 

V. 17-26 26 

V. 17-37 97 

V. 27-32 114, 224 

V. 30 69 

V. 31-32 26 

V. 32 69 

V. 34-35 26 

vi. 1-5 128 

vi.3-5 26 

vi. 6-11 130 

vi. 9 26 

vi. 12-19 48 

vi. 20-23 224 

vi. 20-26 83 

vi. 27-36 106 

vi. 31 112 

vi. 35-36 89 

vi. 37-42 164 

vi.40 24, 57, 252 

vi. 43-44 89 

vi.45 89, 90 

vi. 46 38, 50 

vi. 47-49 51 

vii. 9 208 

vii. 18-35 30, 144 

vii. 22-27 30 



IQ 



290 



Luke 



INDEX OF TEXTS. 



Luke 



vii. 31-35 263 

vii. 41-42 19 

vii. 47-50 70, 71 

viii. 4-15 16 

viii. 8 53 

viii. 10 17 

viii. 16 97 

viii. 16-17 244 

viii. 18 221 

viii. 19-21 38 

viii. 26-39 269 

ix. 1-5 225 

ix. 2 59 

ix. 5 53 

ix. 11 208 

ix. 23 242, 246 

ix. 24 23 

ix. 27 64 

ix. 35 45 

ix. 43-45 30 

ix. 46-48 27, 30, 79 

ix. 48 251 

ix. 49-50 27 

ix. 51-56 116 

ix. 57-62 226 

x. 1 sq 228 

X. 9 59 

x. 10-11 54 

x. 12-15 75 

x. 16 24, 54 

X. 25-28 28, 155 

X. 25-37 117 

X. 30-37 19 

X. 38-42 54 

xi. 1-3 163 

xi. 2 59 

xi. 2-4 39 

xi. 3 118 

xi. 4 73 

xi. 5-8 19 

xi. 9-13 40, 112 



xi. 14-22 27 

xi. 24-26 195 

xi. 27-28 41 

xi. 29-32. 171, 178 

xi. 30-32 179 

xi. 33 97, 239 

xi. 34-36 164, 245 

xi. 37-40 .^ 2T 

xi. 37-41 135 

xi. 37-52 171 

xi. 39-41 172 

xi. 42 173 

xi. 43 175, 184 

xi. 44 175 

xi. 45-52 176 

xi.46 183 

xi. 47-48 187 

xi. 49-51 177 

xi.53 171 

xii. 1 27, 171, 177 

xii. 2 244 

xii. 10 178, 193 

xii. 11-12 250 

xii. 13-21 19, 190 

xii. 20, 21 191 

xii. 22-32... 164, 209 sq. 

xii. 31 67, 160 

xii. 32 67, 210 

xii. 33-34... 164, 212 sq. 

xii. 35-36 66 

xii. 35-38 18 

xii. 37-48 66 

xii. 39-40 18 

xii. 41-46 201 

xii. 42-46 18, 222 

xii. 47-48 202 

xii. 49-53 247 sq. 

xii. 54-56 179 

xii. 58-59 97, 151 

xiii. 1-5 74 

xiii. 1-9 31 



I 



INDEX OF TEXTS. 



291 



Luke 



Luke 



xiii. 10-17 28, 133 

xiii. 18-19, 20-21.. 16, 65 

xiii. 23-24 112 

xiii. 23-30 92 

xiii. 25 sq 93 

xiii. 25-27 51 

xiii. 34-35 177 

xiv. 1-6 28 

xiv. 1-11 133, 213 

xiv. 7-11 19 

xiv. 11 77 

xiv. 12-14 19, 214 

xiv. 15-24.... 18, 62, 200 

xiv. 26 242, 248 

xiv. 27 242, 246 

xiv. 28-33 242 

xiv. 34-35 97, 244 

XV 74, 116 

XV. 4-7 17 

XV. 7 74 

XV. 8-10 19 

XV. 10 74 

XV. 11-32 19 

XV. 18-19,21 74 

xvi. 1-8 19 

xvi. 1-9 215 sq. 

xvi. 10-13 216 sq. 

xvi. 13 95, 162 

xvi. 16-17 144 

xvi. 17-18 97 

xvi. 18.. 137, 140, 141, 152 

xvi. 19-31 19, 191 

xvi. 24 242 

xvii. 1-2 91 

xvii. 3 119 

xvii. 7-10 19, 217 sq. 

xvii. 10 218 

xvii. 20-21 64 

xvii. 22-37 30 

xvii. 33 23, 246 

xviii. 1-8 19 



viii. 4-18 ,.. 60 

xviii. 9-14 19, 77 

xviii. 11-12 165 

xviii. 14 77, 213 

xviii. 15-17 30, 79 

xviii. 18-21 76 

xviii. 18-23 84, 232 

xviii. 18-30 27 

xviii. 24-27 67 

xviii. 24-30 237 

xviii. 43 207 

xix. 8 79, 241 

xix. ll-28..18,66,227sq. 

xix. 26 221 

xix. 45-46 271 

xix. 45-48 27, 31 

XX. 1-8 27 

XX. 9-16 17 

XX. 9-19 63 

XX. 20-26 27 

XX. 25. 275 

XX. 27-39 260 

XX. 27-40 28 

XX. 41-44 28 

XX. 45-47 184 

XX. 46 175 

xxi 30 

xxi. 1-4 28 

xxi. 12-19 250 

xxi. 17 57 

xxi. 19 222 

xxi. 29-31 18 

xxi. 32 64 

xxi. 36 222 

xxii. 3-6 255 

xxii. 10 207 

xxii. 21-23 30 

xxii. 24-27 251 

xxii. 25-26 27 

xxii. 28-30 67 

xxii. 31-34 30 



292 



INDEX OF TEXTS. 



Luke 



John 



John 



xxii. 32 80 

xxii. 33-34 256 

xxii. 42 46 

xxii. 46, 47-53 255 

xxii. 54 208 

xxii. 55-62 256 

xxii. 66-71 154 

xxiii. 27, 49 208 

xxiv. 20 98 

xxiv. 49 65 

i.27 138 

i. 34 35 

i. 35-43 47 

ii. 14-17 271 

ii. 16 27 

ii. 24 138 

iii. 1-12 28 

iii. 3-7 63 

iii. 5 69 

iii. 16..... 126 

iii. 22-36 48 

iv. 1-2 69 

iv. 1-3 48 

iv. 4-26 31 

iv. 31-38 28 

iv. 34 43 

iv. 35-42 75 

iv. 43-45 21 

iv. 44, 45 22 

V. 1-9 131 

V. 2-47 28 

V. 24 52, 73 

V. 28-29 52 

V. 30 41 

V. 42, 44, 45 169 

V. 46-47 170 

vi 177 

vi. 2 208 

vi. 15 275 

vi. 22-59 25 



vi. 27, 28-29 44 

vi. 29-47 76 

vi. 38-40 45 

vi. 63 56 

vi. 68 56 

vi. 69 76 

vii. 14-24 28 

vii. 17 >-^2 

vii. 19 170 

vii. 22-23 132 

vii. 33-34 31 

vii. 37-38 31, 73 

viii. 12 208 

viii. 12-29 31 

viii. 19 170 

viii. 24 75 

viii. 29.. 42 

viii. 31-59 29 

viii. 34 194 

viii. 42-44 170 

viii. 46-47 43 

viii. 47 170 

viii. 55 43 

ix 134 

ix. 1-3 29 

ix. 2-3 195 

ix. 35-39 31, 75 

ix. 39-41 196 

ix. 40-41 29 

ix. 41 55, 170 

X. 1-21 20 

X. 4, 5 208 

X. 9 75 

X. 10-18 119 

X. 14-16 265 sq. 

X. 24-39 29 

X. 26 75 

X. 27 208 

xi. 25-27 75 

xi. 25 sq 31 

xi. 31 208 



INDEX OF TEXTS. 



293 



John 

xii. 1-8 27, 252 

xii. 20-36 31 

xii. 25 23, 246 

xii. 26 246 

xii. 36-46 80 

xii. 44-50 31, 56 

xii. 46 208 

xii. 48 50 

xiii-xv 122 

xiii. 4-16 252 

xiii. 4-20 31 

xiii. 16 24, 57 

xiii. 20 24, 54 

xiii. 21-30 30 

xiii. 31-35 31 

xiii. 34-35 122 

xiii. 36-37 208 

xiii. 36-38 30 

xiii. 37-38 256 

xiv. 1 sq 29 

xiv. 6 80 

xiv. 11-12 81 

xiv. 12-30 31 

xiv. 15, 21, 23-24. . . 123 

XV. 1-8 20 

XV. 1-15 265 

XV. 8-14 124 

XV. 8-27 31 

XV. 20-24 57 

XV. 22, 24 194 

xvi. 1-33 31 

xvi. 30 81 

xvii 31, 58 

xvii. 4 46 

xvii. 8-20 81 

xvii. 20-23 265 

xviii. 1-12 255 

xviii. 15 208 

xviii. 15-18,25-27.... 256 

xviii. 33-38 63 

xviii. 36 275 

XX. 6 208 



John 

XX. 21-23 278 

XX. 22-23 31 

XX. 23 81 

xxi. 15-17 257 

xxi. 15-23 29 

Acts 

i. 15-26 49 

XV. 10 127, 176 

XX. 35 1 

Romans 

iii.20 127 

xii. 9-21 113 

xiv. 13-19 113 

I. Corinthians 

vii. 8-16 141 

vii. 10-11 1 

xiii 113 

XV. 6 49 

Galatians 

V. 6, 13-25 113 

V. 19-21 198 

Ephesians 

ii. 20 277 

iv. 31-v. 2 113 

Philippians 

ii. 1-8 113 

Colossians 

iii. 12-14 113 

iv. 14 5 

James 

ii. 8-9 113 

iii. 13-18 113 

iv. 11-12 113 

/. Peter 

ii. 19-23 113 

iii. 8-9 113 

iv. 8-9 113 

iv. 8 Ill 

Revelations 

vi. 16 149 

xxi. 14 277 



THE WRITINGS OF 

PROF. CHARLES A. BRIGGS, D.D. 

CHARLES SCRIBNER^S SONS, Publishers 
153-157 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK 



The Incarnation of the Lord. 

8vo. Net, Si- 50. 

" Such a book, from a man of Dr. Briggs's scholarly standing, in full 
sympathy with critical conclusions and advanced thought in Scripture 
interpretation, is exceedingly timely and will be read with great profit and 
enlightenment by any to whom the divinity of Jesus Christ or the reality of 
His Incarnation have become in any degree questionable teachings." 
— The Advance. 

"We rejoice to believe that the circulation of this book will do great 
good, and that it will be to many minds a stimulus and a guide in the study 
of that which is the central fact and doctrine of our Christian faith — the 
Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour." — The Chu chman. 



A General Introdnction to the 
Stndy of Holy Scriptnre. 

The Principles, Methods, History, and Results of its Several 
Departments, and of the Whole. Crown 8vo. $3.00 net. 

Dr. Briggs's new book covers the whole ground of Biblical 
Study, gives a history of every department, with ample illustra- 
tions from the New Testament as well as from the Old, and states 
the results thus far attained, the present problems, and the aims 
for the future. It is written so that any intelligent person can read 
it with enjoyment and profit. The work takes the place of the 
author's Biblical Study, which has been extraordinarily successful, 
and which has been here revised, enlarged to double its former 
size, and entirely reset, so that it is essentially a new book« 



PROFESSOR BRIGOS'S WRITINGS. 



New lAght on the Life of Jesus. 

By Charles A. Briggs, D.D., D.Litt., Edward Robinson Pro- 
fessor of Biblical Theology in the Union Theological Seminary, 
New York. Crown 8yo, $1.20 net (postage, 11 cents). 

In this volume Dr. Briggs sets forth a new order of the events 
and teachings in the life of Jesus in the light of which a large 
proportion of the disputes as to the harmony of the Gospels dis- 
appear. The result is revolutionary so far as modern opinionsT 
are concerned ; but actually the results are conservative, being in 
the main a return to ancient opinions. The composition of the 
various Gospels also becomes much easier of explanation and the 
entire subject acquires new results. The book is not technical, 
and it has been so written as to make it useful and interesting to 
all intelligent persons. 

"Anyone at all familiar with the Scriptures, with the life of Christ in particular, 
will recognize its value at a glance, clearing up, as it does, many mooted points, 
and rendering harmonious the answers to many questions that long have pressed 
for solution." — Boston Traitscript. 

"Professor Briggs's 'New Light on the Lile of Jesus ' is an interesting and 
important discussion of problems affecting a proper chronology of the life of 
Jesus. The discussions are, by the necessities of the case, largely technical; but 
the conclusion given in an ' outline of the life of Jesus ' is a model of compact and 
lucid statement. "—iVbr/^zw^^/^r?/ Christian Advocate. 

" Whatever maybe individual opinion as to the correctness of Dr. Briggs's con- 
clusions, there is never any question as to the accuracy of his scholarship and the 
intense devotion which he brings to every subject he treats. We do not hesitate 
to say that the present little work, distinctly not proposing to give a new life of 
Jesus, is of superlative value for the realization, the actualization, of the earthly 
life of our Lord. Not that the ' new light' which has broken upon Dr. Briggs's 
mind is likely to shine with convincing effulgence into every mind to whom this 
book shall come. Some of Dr. Briggs's assumptions— as, for example, that during 
the major part of his ministry Jesus was accompanied, not by the entire Twelve, 
but by only two of the disciples at a time, and in turn — may strike the casual 
reader as mere assumptions and nothing more. But this book is not intended for 
the casual reader, but for the student of the New Testament, and we venture to 
assert that who takes up anew the Gospels with this book in hand, looking up Dr. 
Briggs's references, and pondering the connotation of their statements, will find 
pretty firm ground for many, at least, of the new tetichings contained in this book. 
Whether he does or no, however, is of comparatively small moment. The point 
is not that every New Testament student should agree with Dr. Briggs in this 
matter or that, but that he should avail himself of the 'new light' which Dr. 
Briggs offers for a new studv of the Gospels, forming his own conclusions 
\.\\&xQ.{\o\w.'" —Christian Work and Evangelist. 

"The outline is clear and the conclusions worthy of attention."— J)^^ Outlook. 

" It is easy to say that no writer or preacher on the life of Christ will know his 
work if he does not take Dr. Bnggs into account. As Professor Briggs says: 'The 
new light solves most of the difficult problems of the Gospels, fills up the chasm 
between the Synoptics and the Gospel of John, and satisfies the most searching 
inquires of modern Higher Criticism and Hisiorical Criticism,'" — The Exposi- 
tory Times. 



PROFESSOB BBIGGS'S WRITINGS. 



Messianic Propliecy. 



The Prediction of the fulfilment of Redemption through the 
Messiah. A critical study of the Messianic passages of the Old 
Testament in the order of their development. By Charles A. 
Briggs, D.D., Edward Robinson Professor of Biblical Theology 
in the Union Theological Seminary, New York. One volum^ 
crown octavo, $2. 50. 

" Messianic Prophecy is a subject of no common interest, and this book is no ordin- 
ary book. It is, on the contrary, a work of the very first order, the ripe product of 
years of study upon the highest themes. It is exegesis in master-hand, about its 

noblest business It has been worth while to commend this book at some 

length to the attention of Bible students, because both the. subject and the treatment 
entitle it to rank among the very foremost works of the generation in the department 
of Exegetical Theology. Union Seminary is to be congratulated that it is one of her 
Professors "who, in a noble line of succession has produced it. The American Church 
is to be congratulated that the author is an American, and Presbyterians that he is a 
Presbyterian. A Church that can yield such books has large possibilities."— iVew 
TorJc Evangelist. 

"It is second in importance to no theological work which has appeared in this 
country during the present century. "— T'/ie Critic. 

"His arduous labor has been well expended, for he has finally produced a book 
which wilJ give great pleasure to Christians of all denominations The pro- 
found learning displayed in the book commends it to the purchase of all clergymen 
who wish for the most critical and exact exposition of a ditficult theme ; while its 
earnestness and eloquence will win for it a place in the library of every devout lay- 
man."— iV. Y. Journal of Commerce. 

" It is rich with the fruits of years of zealous and unwearied study, and of an ample 
learning. In it we have the first English work on Messianic Prophecy which stands 
on the level of modern Biblical studies. It is one of the most important and valuable 
contributions of American scholarships to those studies. It is always more than in- 
structive : it is spiritually helpful. We commend the work not only to ministers, but 
to intelligent laymen."— T/ie Independent. 

" On the pervading and multiform character of this promise, see a recent, as well 
as valuable authority, in the volume of Dr. Briggs, of the New York Theological 
Seminary, on 'Messianic Prophecy.'" — W. E. Gladstonk. 

"Prof. Briggs' Messianic Prophecy is a most excellent book, in which I greatly 
rejoice." — Prof. Franz Delitzsch. 

"All scholars will join in recognizing its singular usefulness as a text-book. It has 
been much wanted."— Rev. Canon Cheyne. 

"It is a book that will be consulted and prized by the learned, and that will add to 
the author's deservedly high reputatinn for scholarship. Evidences of the ability, 
learning and patient research of the author are apparent from the beginning to the 
end of the volume, while the style is remarkably fine."— /^AiiJa. Presbyteria)i. 

" His new book on Messianic Phrophecy is a worthy companion to his indispens- 
able text-book on Biblical study .... What is most of all required to insure the 
future of Old Testament studies in this country is that those who teach should satisfy 
their students of their historic connection with the religion and theology of the past. 
Prof. Briggs has the consciousness of such a connection in a very full degree, and 
yet he combines this with a frank and unreserved adhesion to the principles of modern 

criticisms He has produced the first English text-book on the subject of 

Messianic Prophecy which a modern teacher can use."— T'Ae London Academy. 



PB0FES80R BBIGOS'8 WBITTNG8. 



The Messiali of tlie Oospels. 

By Charles A. Briggs, D.D., Edward Eobiuson Professor of 
Biblical Theology in the Union Theological Seminary, New York. 
Crown 8vo, $2.00. 

The Messiali of the Apostles. 

By Charles A. Briggs, D.D., Edward Robinson Professor of 
Biblical Theology in the Union Theological Seminary, NcwYork. 
Crown 8vo, $3.00. 

Prof. Briggs in these two volumes takes up the ideas presented in 
the author's "Messianic Prophecy of the Old Testament," and traces 
their development in New Testament prophecy. The method and 
scope of the work are entirely original, and it is full of fresh state- 
ments of the doctrine of the person and work of Chri„t as the result 
of the new point of view that is taken. 

"It is learned, sound, evangelical, and is a useful contribution to the Christological 
literature of the day."— iVew York Tiibune. 

" It requires but a cursory examination of this book to discover that it is the work 
of a profound Biblical scholar. It will prove^a valuable aid to the Biblical student, and 
is well worthy of a place in his library."— ^e/brmec? Church Messenger. 

" The book, as to far the larger part of it, is one of the best and most precious ever 
written ui)on the person, the othces, the work of the Son of God and Son of man. The 
author has the Scripiures thoroughly at command, and without quotation-marks re- 
peats the very words, adding passage to passage, phrase to phrase, with splendid and 
overwhelming power."— T'Ae Christian Intelligencer. 

♦' Like all Dr. Briggs' books, the work though given in lucid and ringing Engli h 
has depth and breadth of learning."- ^o.<fto/i Ziort's Herald. 

" As we lay the book down we have a renewed sense of the courage, independence 
and erudition of the author."— /"Ae Churchman. 

" He has given to us on the whole a nobie contribution of devout scholarship to- 
wards an understanding of the Christ of New Testament ia&ch.ing.''''— Richmond 
EHigious Herald. 

" . . . . it is a book of great merit, and one that no student of the New Tes- 
tament can afford not to read with candor and diligence."— 21^e Examiner. 

"The whole tone of the discussion is adapted to im])ress one with the idt'a that the 
writer is a sincere lover of and seei^er after truth. The whole volume will be found 
very helpful to any diligent student of the Scriptures."— Pi^^i^/wr^^A Iresbyieviwn 
Messenger. 

"The work, by its freedom from contentiousness and by its respect for other learn- 
ed opinion, claims a dignified place in contributions to historical theology. "— 77ie 
American Historical lieciew. 

" Dr. Briggs is to be congratulated on having brought to a successful termination 
this truly remnrkable series of volumes on one of Ihe most important themes of Bibli- 
cal study. The Christology of the New Testament is likely to wait long for a more 
competent and more successful expositor."— 27^6 Christian Jiegister. 

" Whoever makes a faithful study of this book will put himself under the gnidance 
of an admirable teacher, and Avill come into close contact with the living Word of the 
divine revelation.'"— The Congregation alist. 



PROFESSOR BRIGGS'S WRITINGS. 



The Bible, the Churcli, and tlie 
Reason. 

The Three Great Fountains of Divine Authority. By Charles A. 
Briggs, D.D., Edward Robinson Professor of Biblical Theology in 
Union Theological Seminary, New York. Crown 8vo, $1.75. 

" It consists of lectures delivered at different times since the recent assault 
open him. In these lectures he does not indicate the least inclination to beat a 
retreat, cry for quarter, or even secure a truce. And yet, with some few excep- 
tions, he does not exhibit personal feehng, nor defend himself personally from 
the charges made against him. He simply elaborates and substantiates the 
positions in his inaugviral which have subjected him to public criticism and to a 
possible trial for heresy." — T^e Christian Union. 

" The problems which are discussed with masterly power in this volume are 
not those of Presbyterianism, or of Protestantism, but of Christianity, and, 
indeed, of all BibUcal religion. To any man for whom the question of God and 
revelation has an endlessly fascinating interest, the book will prove suggestive and 
stimulating. We cannot see why even the Israelite and the Roman CathoUc should 
not desire to taste — despite the traditions of synagogue and Mother Church — 
this latest forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge." — The Literary World. 

The Higher Criticism of the Hex- 
ateuch. 

By Prof. Charles A. Briggs, D.D., of Union Theological Sem- 
inary, New York. New Revised and Enlarged Edition. Crown 
8vo, $2.50. 

Summary of Contents : The Testimony of Scripture— The Traditional Theories 
—The Rise of Criticism— The Documentary and Supplementary Hypothesis- 
Date of Deuteronomy— Development of the Codes— Witness of the History— The 
Argument from Biblical Theology and its Results— Recent Discussions. 

It is with the aim of contributing to a better understanding and higher apprecia- 
tion of the documents of the Bible that the book has been written, which is 
designed for the general public rather than for Hebrew students, and, for the most 
part, technical material been put into the Appendix, which constitutes a consider- 
able part of the volume. This new edition is the result of a thorough revision 
of the entire work, and contains numerous additions of importance. It is also 
characterized by a thorough study of the types of Hebrew law and the history of 
Hebrew legislation. It should therefore be of great interest to the legal profession. 

"The volume before us gives in plain language Dr. Briggs's belief. No minister 
can afford to be ignorant of the subject, or of Dr. Briggs's position."— 7"^^ Chris- 
tian Enquirer. 



rROFEsson brwo^s whitings. 



^WMtlier ? 

A Theological Question for the Times By Charles Augustus 
Btiiggs, D.D., Edward Robinson Professor of Biblical Theology 
in the Union Theological Seminary, New York. Third Edition. 
One volume, crown 8vo, $1.75. 

" He shows tliat genuine Chrislianity has notniug lo lose, but much to gain, by un- 
fettered thought and by tJie ripest modern ochoiartship ; that the doctrines which pro- 
gressive theology tiireatens are no essential part of the historic faith, but rather out- 
worn garments, woven with warp and woof of tradition and speculation ; that being 
hung upon the noble form of Christianity, have obscured its real pioportions. and 
tliat 'the higher criticism ' of which timid and unschoiarly souls are so much afraid/ 
is really making the Bible more manifestly the book of God, by relieving it irDnrthe 
false interpreiations of men."— TAe Fress, Philadelphia. 

"' The book is a strong one. It is packed with weighty matter. Its reach is larger 
than any of the author's other works, though its compass is smaller. It contains only 
300 pages, yet it is a critical treatise on Westminster and modern theology, and also 
on church life and Christian unity. It is written in nervous, virile English that holds 
attention. It has unusual grasp and force. The title and the chapter headings sug- 
gest compression: 'Whither?' 'Drifting,' 'Orthodoxy,' 'Changes,' 'Shifting,' 
' Excesses,' 'Failures,' 'Departures,' 'Perplexities,' 'Earners,' 'Thither.' There 
is a whole history in some of these words, and a whole sermon in others."— /"Ae 
Critic, New York. 

"At the same time it is irenic both in tone and tendency. It is noble from 
beginning to end, though the author may possibly place unnecessary emphasis on 
the organic unity of the different denominations of Christendom as the condition 
l)recedent for a true catholic unity. There is not a touch or smell of rationalism or 
rationalistic speculation in the book, .ind freely as the author deals with his oppo- 
nents, it is an honest freedom, which will promote good feeling even amid debate." — 
'fhe Independeat. 

American Presby terianism 5 

Its Origin and Early History, together with an Appendix of Let- 
ters and Documents, many of which have recently been discovered. 
By Charles A. Briggs, D.D., Edward Robinson Professor of 
Biblical Theology in the Union Theological Seminary, New York. 
I volume, crown 8vo, with Maps. $3.00. 

" Tl.e Presbyterian Church owes a debt of gratitude to the enthusiasm and antiquar- 
ian research of Professor Briggs. He seems to have seized the foremost place among 
them, and his vigorous, skilful, and comprehensive researches put all Protestant 
Christians, and especially Congregationalists, under obligation to him..'''— Boston 
Coxgregationalist. 

"This is an admirable and exhaustive work, full of vigorous thinking, clear and 
careful statement, incisive and judicious criticism, minute yet comprehensive research. 
It is such a book as only a man with a gift for historical inquiry and an enthusiasm 
for the history and principles of his Church could have produced. It represents an 
amazing amount of labor. Dr. Briggs seems to have searched every available source, 
British and American, for printed or v/ritten documents bearing on his subjects, and 
he has met with wonderful success. He has made many important discoveries, illus- 
trative of the Puritan men and period, useful to himself, but certain also to be helpful 
to ail future inquiries in this field."— i?/i^i67i Quarterly Revieiv. 

CHARLES SCBIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 

15 3-1 5 7 Fifth Avenue, Nevr York. 



■^: 



LIBRARY OF CONGR[:SS 




014 397 239 2 ^^ 



